Abnormality of Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels in Disease Development of the Nervous System. A Review Article.

Abstract

Sodium channels are necessary for electrical activity in modules of the nervous system. When such channels fail to work properly, it may cause different neurological diseases. This review will discuss how particular mutation in these channels leads to different diseases. Positive alterations can lead to such diseases as epilepsy, or any muscle disorder due to over activation of neurons. Conversely, loss-of-function mutations may cause heart diseases and problems regarding motor and mental activity since neurons are not functioning well because of lost machinery. The review would discuss over familiar channelopathies such as genetic epilepsies, the familial hemiplegic migraine, and Para myotonia congenital and relatively new interrelations with the complex ailments including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis. Thus, knowledge of these mechanisms is important in designing specific therapeutic approaches. There is a rationale for altering the sodium channel activity in the treatment of these neurological disorders by drugs or indeed genetic methods. Thus, the review is undertaken to provide clear distinctions and discuss the issues related to sodium channel mutations for the potential development of individualized medicine. The review also gives information on the function and general distribution of voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs), how their activity is controlled, and what their structure is like. The purpose therefore is to draw understanding over the apparently multifaceted functions exerted by VGSCs in the nervous system relative to several diseases. This knowledge is imperative in the attempt to produce treatments for these disabling disorders.