GL-science

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system. It tends to be characterised by inflammation and degradation of myelin. Dr. Jean Martin Charcot (1825 – 1893), was the first person to scientifically explain and document this disease. Myelin affects roughly 1 in 600 people and there are 85,000 sufferers in the U.K today. Symptoms of MS tend to be seen between the ages of 20 and 40. This disease is more prevalent in women rather than men (NHS 2006). Multiple sclerosis can have affects on action potential conduction, as described below. Read the rest of this entry »

Myelin was first discovered by the French Histologist Louis-Antoine Ranvier in 1878. This discovery was the foundation of understanding how the process of myelination occurs and its importance in the nervous system. Myelination is the term used to describe the coating of neurones and dendrites with myelin to form a myelin sheath. This process starts at the cranial nerves during the fifth month of pregnancy and continues throughout a person’s life (Barkovich 2000).

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