N - Neurodegenerative

🧠🤯

The term neurodegeneration is a combination of two words - "neuro," referring to nerve cells and "degeneration," referring to progressive damage.

Neurodegenerative disease is an umbrella term for a range of conditions which primarily affect the neurons in the human brain.

Of these hundreds of different disorders, so far attention has been mainly focused on only a handful, with the most notable being Parkinson’s disease, Huntington's disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

Neurons are the building blocks of the nervous system which includes the brain and spinal cord. Neurons normally don’t reproduce or replace themselves, so when they become damaged or die they cannot be replaced by the body.

Neurodegenerative diseases are incurable and debilitating conditions that result in progressive degeneration and / or death of nerve cells. This causes problems with movement, mental functioning and affect a person's ability to move, speak and breathe. 😵

It seems that neurodegenerative diseases are caused by:

🧬Genetic mutations

🦠A build-up of toxic proteins in the brain

🌀A loss of mitochondrial function that leads to the creation of neurotoxic molecules

Although the cause may vary, experts generally agree that the result is the promotion of apoptosis or programmed cell death, which is deliberate suicide of the cell for the purpose of protecting other nearby neurons from toxic substances.🥴

Have a nice day! 😅