Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Degenerative Disease
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a motor neuron disease that is commonly referred to as ALS or perhaps as Lou Gehrig's disease, the famous American baseball player who was the first highly visible person to have the disease. It is estimated that at least 20,000 Americans, and possibly closer to 30,000 people, are suffering from some stage of this debilitating disease.
The motor neurons that are affected when one has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS are part of every human's central nervous system. While there are several similar types of motor neuron diseases, ALS is the most prevalent. Generally, people begin to experience symptoms of ALS around the age of 40, with typical onset being between 40 and 60 years of age. However, there have been cases of much younger individuals contracting the disease. Unfortunately, there is no current cure for this fatal disease, and death typically occurs in less than three years after the onset of symptoms. Occasionally, a patient will live ten or more years with ALS, but this is very rare.
Because the neurons begin to degenerate, this causes muscles to begin wasting away, and the first symptoms are initially a general weakening of the muscles. Often a person will find that a previously fluid movement becomes jerky and difficult, such as swinging a tennis racket. The person might begin to fumble when completing normal tasks, such as buttoning a garment or brushing hair. Stumbling and dragging a limb while walking also can occur, as well as a slurring of speech or a change in vocal tone.
As time passes, the degeneration can cause a person to lose most of their ability to move, and most end-stage ALS patients are confined to wheelchairs or even bed-ridden and hospice care is needed. Difficulty swallowing can cause those with ALS to choke and become unable to eat solid foods, and loss of respiratory function also often occurs. Patients often are fed through a tube and placed on ventilators to ensure nutrition and breathing. There are a few drugs that can help ease some of the symptoms, and one drug has been developed that slows the progression of the disease slightly, but no truly effective treatments have been created yet.
In the 1990s, scientists found that is about 20% of ALS cases, a certain type of gene mutation was present, although they are not sure what causes the mutation. Inheriting ALS is rare but does happen occasionally, and this has been linked to a specific chromosome in the body. Within the last few years, a bigger discovery has targeted the protein identified as C9orf72 as the most likely culprit for ALS. The problem exists in one section of the protein. Typically this section will repeat about 30 times for most people, but with ALS patients, the repetition occurs many hundreds of times. No one yet knows why this repetition happens, but it does seem to cause the development of ALS.
Studying proteins has provided scientists with many clues about ALS and other degenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. In order to study proteins, biotech firms complete important services such as N-terminal sequencing, peptide synthesis and protein synthesis, as well as custom protein expression. All of these services aid further studies. Hopefully, one day researchers will find medicines to prohibit the progression of these diseases and also eventually find a way to cure or prevent these diseases from occurring.
The motor neurons that are affected when one has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS are part of every human's central nervous system. While there are several similar types of motor neuron diseases, ALS is the most prevalent. Generally, people begin to experience symptoms of ALS around the age of 40, with typical onset being between 40 and 60 years of age. However, there have been cases of much younger individuals contracting the disease. Unfortunately, there is no current cure for this fatal disease, and death typically occurs in less than three years after the onset of symptoms. Occasionally, a patient will live ten or more years with ALS, but this is very rare.
Because the neurons begin to degenerate, this causes muscles to begin wasting away, and the first symptoms are initially a general weakening of the muscles. Often a person will find that a previously fluid movement becomes jerky and difficult, such as swinging a tennis racket. The person might begin to fumble when completing normal tasks, such as buttoning a garment or brushing hair. Stumbling and dragging a limb while walking also can occur, as well as a slurring of speech or a change in vocal tone.
As time passes, the degeneration can cause a person to lose most of their ability to move, and most end-stage ALS patients are confined to wheelchairs or even bed-ridden and hospice care is needed. Difficulty swallowing can cause those with ALS to choke and become unable to eat solid foods, and loss of respiratory function also often occurs. Patients often are fed through a tube and placed on ventilators to ensure nutrition and breathing. There are a few drugs that can help ease some of the symptoms, and one drug has been developed that slows the progression of the disease slightly, but no truly effective treatments have been created yet.
In the 1990s, scientists found that is about 20% of ALS cases, a certain type of gene mutation was present, although they are not sure what causes the mutation. Inheriting ALS is rare but does happen occasionally, and this has been linked to a specific chromosome in the body. Within the last few years, a bigger discovery has targeted the protein identified as C9orf72 as the most likely culprit for ALS. The problem exists in one section of the protein. Typically this section will repeat about 30 times for most people, but with ALS patients, the repetition occurs many hundreds of times. No one yet knows why this repetition happens, but it does seem to cause the development of ALS.
Studying proteins has provided scientists with many clues about ALS and other degenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. In order to study proteins, biotech firms complete important services such as N-terminal sequencing, peptide synthesis and protein synthesis, as well as custom protein expression. All of these services aid further studies. Hopefully, one day researchers will find medicines to prohibit the progression of these diseases and also eventually find a way to cure or prevent these diseases from occurring.
About the Author:
Armand Zeiders likes writing and sharing about biomedical research. For more information regarding protein sequencing service, or to know other biotechnology services, click here.
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New Unique Article!
Title: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Degenerative Disease
Author: Armand Zeiders
Email: articles@zerocompany.com
Keywords: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,amyotrophic lateral sclerosis facts,biomedical research,biotech services,biotech company,biotech,science,health,business
Word Count: 564
Category: Science
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