Defining neurodegenerative diseases

摘要

Defining neurodegenerative diseases is like defining the continent of Europe: part history, part science, part politics, and to cap it, both could have an effect on health and prosperity. A big advantage of the term is that it is a concept that patients can relate to from parallels in everyday life. Wearing out in time of certain components-sometimes replaceable, sometimes not-encompasses principles of selective neuronal death as a primary event with age as a major risk factor and good remedies patchy. Paradoxes abound. Neurodegeneration is a major element and is often the cause of the disability in many diseases not usually classified as degenerative-for example, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, some inborn errors of metabolism, schizophrenia, and even tumours. Conversely, inflammatory processes are activated and vascular compromise occurs in some degenerative diseases. A Napoleonic view could encompass most brain diseases under the rubric of neurodegenerative, but this would lack focus.