A New Approach to Neuropathy Pain Relief, The Glycine Transporter
By George Kukurin D.C.
There are numerous explanations why individuals acquire peripheral neuropathy and sad to say only a few reliable strategies to decrease the discomfort and other symptoms connected with it. There are a minimal number of different types of prescription drugs which have recognized treatment success. One example of these types of medication operates by elevating the amount of a neurotransmitter called GABA. This substance, GABA functions like a braking mechanism on the nervous system. It is presumed that GABA decreases neuropathy pain by diminishing or decreasing the pain impulses that travel from the hands and feet to the brain. An additional category of drug works by raising the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine. Precisely how this inhibits neuropathy pain is uncertain. Another important additional neurotransmitter, glutamate acts much like the gas pedal inside the nervous system. It ramps up signaling of pain transmission in sensory neural fibers. In nerve injuries which includes chemotherapy associated neuropathy, glutamate concentrations may be heightened or their transporters pumps depressed. The net consequence is an heightened action of glutamate function, which due to the excitatory character of glutamate, in due course translates into neural hypersensitivity in pain pathways. Drug treatments that reduce glutamate or obstruct its receptors may work to diminish pain signaling. Even though neuropathy is a common and incapacitating sickness and huge amounts of money have already been invested in investigation of its treatment, no one method is universally successful to help persons who must endure neuropathy. Each and every patient reacts in different ways to these medications and sad to say none of them deliver exceptional benefits for most of patients suffering with peripheral neuropathy.
Considering that the diverse types of prescription drugs utilized to address different types of neuropathy render, by and large, insufficient or discouraging benefits there is always a continuous search for unique and perhaps more potent biological pathways with which to handle neuropathy signs or symptoms.
Yet another neurotransmitter and its receptor is attracting particular attention from the neuropathy research community. The amino acid glycine is what is referred to as an inhibitory neurotransmitter. It functions at the junction in between neural cells known as a synapse. Whenever glycine is introduced in the junction between two nerves it decreases or halts the transmission of impulses (like pain signals) traveling to the brain. For this reason Glycine is labeled as an inhibitory neurotransmitter. Glycine's inhibition of pain signaling however does not continue long since the nerve ending at the junction of synapse possess pumps that push the glycine out from the gap between the nerves and sequester it within the neural cell. When returning within the cell Glycine is less active and generates no more inhibition of nerve signaling.
Consequently pain impulses like those seen in neuropathy can once more start along their path from the toes and fingers towards head, making life dismal for individuals affected by neuropathy. At least one group of experts has confirmed that substantial levels of glycine consumed by mouth can elevate blood and cerebrospinal glycine concentrations considerably. On the other hand due to the glycine transporter positioned in between nerves cells, we can't be certain that glycine concentrations in the synapse, the place it is effective in reduction of neurological impulses can be obtained by glycine supplementation by itself.
So providing excess glycine within the diet might not be the optimal strategy to decrease neuropathy discomfort. Considering that glycine transporter pump can be so effective it might call for significant doses of oral glycine and it may well nevertheless be challenging to get adequate glycine into the synapse between nerves and to retain it there long enough to obtain important reductions of nerve associated suffering.
If only we're able to inhibit the glycine transporter?
Investigation into pharmaceutical development designed to inhibit the glycine transporter is exploding. Without a doubt preliminary research shows that boosting the effects of glycine by means of curbing the removal of this neurotransmitter out of the gap between nerve cells lessens pain related patterns in animal models of neuropathy. Therapies created for blocking the glycine transporter is an interesting new avenue and offers something genuinely unique in the treatment of patient struggling with neuropathy.
Using the concepts of pharmacognosy to approach this problem suggests some fascinating opportunities. For hundreds of years and over numerous cultures various varieties of the Ash Tree have been utilized for therapeutic applications. Native American herbalists used the bark from the Northern Prickly Ash tree for many different ailments. One of the most intriguing conditions that pertains to neuropathy is toothache. It sounds as if the ability of the bark from this prickly ash was so recognized for its tooth pain relieving qualities that it was frequently call toothache tree or toothache bush. Very recently scientists studying the effects of compound from various ash species on transmission of pain signals within a nerve complex known as the Trigeminal Ganglion (the nerve complex that is associated with toothache and other facial pains), found that chemical substances contained is ash tree bark suppressed nerve pain within this system. Their research further implied that the mechanism for this nerve pain alleviation was in connection with the capacity of prickly ash constituents to inhibit the glycine transporter pump.
This raises the prospect of utilizing prickly ash derived compounds to control the glycine transporter at the synapse while supplementing the diet with oral glycine, methylglycine or trimethylglycine that are different forms of the naturally occurring amino acid glycine.
Make sure you keep in mind not to try this or any other treatment recommendations that are publicized on the net. This short article should be used for educational purposes exclusively. Every patient is a unique individual and medical treatments truly should only be tried using the advice, approval and the direction supervision of a qualified healthcare physician.
Dr. Kukurin is a board certified chiropractic neurologist, with certification in acupuncture. He has over 25 years experience in treating neurological disorders with alternative medicine techniques. The techniques he has pioneered to treat neuropathy have been included in scientific conferences sponsored by Johns Hopkins Medical School and the at the Peripheral Nerve Society. The results his patients have obtained have been published in journals indexed in the National Library of Medicine. Dr. Kukurin has post-graduate continuing medical education through Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins, the Mayo Clinic and the Russian People's Friendship Medical School.
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