Shared mechanisms between Drosophila peripheral nervous system development and human neurodegenerative diseases

O 30: Peripheral Nervous System Diseases and Inflammation

Inflammatory neuropathies may be due to infection (with a specific casual agent identified) including Lyme disease, HIV, Leprosy, Herpes Zoster, Hepatitis B & C. The other group of are Autoimmune or possibly infectious (but with no specific causal infectious agent identified) including sarcoidosis, Guillain-Barre syndrome/ acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy ( AIDP), chronic in...

Reciprocal interactions between neurons and glia are required for Drosophila peripheral nervous system development.

A major developmental role of peripheral glia is to mediate sensory axon guidance; however, it is not known whether sensory neurons influence peripheral glial development. To determine whether glia and neurons reciprocally interact during embryonic development, we ablated each cell type by overexpressing the apoptosis gene, grim, and observed the effects on peripheral nervous system (PNS) devel...

Shared mechanisms between chronic pain and neurodegenerative disease

Accumulating evidence indicates that chronic pain provokes morphological changes in the central nervous system. Animal models of neuropathic pain have revealed that degeneration of inhibitory interneurons in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord contributes to persistent pain after peripheral nerve injury. Brain imaging in patients with chronic pain demonstrates a decrease in neocortical gray matt...

Peripheral Nervous System Complications of Infectious Diseases

Neurodegenerative Diseases: Mechanisms and Therapies

Neurodegenerative diseases are amongst the most costly and devastating diseases, both to patients as well as to their families. This year will mark the 100th anniversary of the first case description of what we now call Alzheimer’s disease, the most common neurodegenerative disease. This special time provides a unique opportunity for us to reflect on howmuch we have learned and yet to also appr...