Neuromuscular diseases are a conditionally distinguished group of diseases that are characterized by impaired muscle function, primarily their weakness. Neuromuscular diseases include muscle diseases, peripheral nerve diseases, neuromuscular junction diseases, and motor neuron diseases. The same symptom of muscle weakness can be a manifestation of very different diseases. This determines a completely different prognosis and treatment options.
Muscle diseases
Acquired myopathies:
-
inflammatory myopathies: (polymyositis, dermatomyositis, myositis with inclusions, sarcoid myopathy;
-
infectious myopathies (HIV myopathies, viral myositis, bacterial myositis, parasitic myositis);
-
medicinal and toxic myopathies (corticosteroid myopathy, myopathy when using drugs to lower cholesterol, alcoholic myopathy, myopathy in critical conditions).
Secondary metabolic and endocrine myopathies:
-
hypokalemic myopathy;
-
hypophosphatemic myopathy;
-
myopathy in chronic renal failure;
-
myopathy in diabetes;
-
myopathy in hypothyroidism;
-
myopathy in hyperthyroidism;
-
myopathy in hyperparathyroidism;
-
Cushing's disease.
Primary metabolic myopathies:
-
myoglobinuria;
-
channelopathy;
-
hereditary myopathies;
-
muscular dystrophies.
Diseases of peripheral nerves
Diseases of the neuromuscular synapse
-
Myasthenia gravis
-
Lambert-Eaton syndrome
-
Botulism
-
Tick-borne paralysis
Motor neuron diseases
-
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
-
Diseases of the lower motor neuron
-
spinal muscular atrophy
-
monomelic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
-
Kennedy's disease
-
Diseases of the upper motor neuron
-
hereditary spastic paraparesis
-
primary lateral sclerosis
Diseases of the neuromuscular junction
A neuromuscular junction or neuromuscular synapse is the junction of a nerve ending and a muscle fiber to form a so–called synaptic cleft, in which an impulse is transmitted from the nerve to the muscle membrane. The impulse is transmitted using the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is released by the nerve end and then attaches to the muscle membrane. In some diseases, neuromuscular transmission is disrupted due to insufficient release of acetylcholine from the nerve ending or due to a violation of its attachment to the membrane of the muscle fiber.
Myasthenia Gravis
The Greek term myasthenia gravis means "muscle weakness" and gravis means "serious". Myasthenia gravis is a disease characterized by severe muscle weakness and fatigue. With myasthenia Gravis, there is a violation of the transmission of an impulse from a nerve fiber to a muscle fiber. The disease is based on the production of autoantibodies that block the attachment of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine to the muscle membrane at the neuromuscular synapse.
