NURS 3550H Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Interferon Type I, Myelin, Autoimmune Disease
Document Summary
In addition to stripping the myelin, inflammation may injure the underlying axon and may also damage oligodendrocytes (the cells that produce cns myelin): axon injury can also occur in the absence of inflammation. How does the inflammation occur: autoimmune disease: cells of the immune system mistakenly identify components of myelin as being foreign and hence attack against them, circulating lymphocytes (t cells) and monocytes (macrophages) must adhere to the endothelium of. Cns blood vessels, migrate across the vessel wall, and then initiate the inflammatory process: the end result is an inflammatory cascade that destroys myelin and may also injure the axonal membrane and the nearby oligodendrocytes. What initiates the autoimmune process: no one knows, genetics, environment, microbial pathogen. What happens when an acute attack is over: partial remyelination, functional axonal compensation (axons redistribute their sodium channels from the nodes de. Ranvier to the entire region of demyelination: development of alternative neuronal circuits that bypass the damaged region.