How does Narcolepsy affect the Nervous System?
I am doing an assignment on Narcolepsy and i need to know how the nervous sytem of a Narcoleptic differs from a healthy nervous system. Please help, very urgent ! ! :-)
Tags: nervous sytem, Narcolepsy, Nervous, System, affect, narcolepticRelated posts:
Here:
http://sulcus.berkeley.edu/mcb/165_001/papers/manuscripts/_267.html
There is a profound explanation for narcoleptic disorder. Under normal conditions, brain wave shows a regular rhythm when an individual is awake. When the person falls asleep, the brain waves become slower and less regular. This sleep state is called non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. When the person enters in deep sleep, the brain waves begin to show active pattern again. This sleep state is called rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep. Dreaming usually occurs at this state.
In narcolepsy, the order and length of NREM and REM sleep periods are disturbed, with REM sleep occurring at the onset, instead of after, of NREM sleep. Thus, narcolepsy is a disorder with REM occurring at abnormal time.
Neurological Aspects of Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a central nervous system disorder with characteristic symptoms of cataplexy and abnormal REM latency. Neurochemical and electrophysiological studies have shown that narcolepsy is associated with an abnormal cholinergic supersensitivity and a monoaminergic (dopamine and norepinephrine) hypoactivity. (Nishino S et al. 1995)