Tourette Syndrome
Tourette SyndromeTourette Syndrome
How would you feel if you were diagnosed with a disease that has baffled scientists for centuries? If your entire social life was destroyed due to this disease which may worsen as time goes by. But worst of all about being diagnosed with this disease is the fact that there is no cure. My guess is you wouldn�t be too happy. You would probably become very depressed, violent, and cut yourself out from any social activities. If you felt this way, you would now be able to understand the lives and feelings of those diagnosed with Tourette syndrome (TS).
Tourette Syndrome is a neurological disorder; therefore it affects the nervous system. The nervous system consists of the brain, spinal cord, nerve cells, and fibers that extend throughout the body. When healthy, the nervous system reacts and responds to nerve impulses that allows us to maintain homeostasis. The nervous system can be broken down further into its three basic functions: sensory functions, integrative functions, and motor functions.
In sensory functions, your body�s sensory receptors detect many different stimuli in and outside of your body. For example, your sensory receptors may detect a change in your blood temperature, or a change outside of your body such as a touch on the arm. Your body then goes through a process know as its integrative function. This is when your nervous system processes information sent via your sensory neurons and in a way �makes decisions� regarding appropriate responses. When all is said and done during this process a decision is made and sent through interneurons that act as a postman and deliver the decision to the motor function part of your nervous system. The motor function involves responding to the decision delivered by the interneurons by using efferent neurons that obtain the decision and send it to the effector to finally carry out the response. An effector can be anything in your body such a muscle fiber or cell glands that can carry out the response. A good example of an effector is your sweat glands. Do keep in mind that this complicated process takes place in thousandths of a second.
This process is easier to understand by taking a closer look at the structure and function of the neurons involved. There are three types of neurons , each of which I mentioned in the paragraph above. There are the sensory neurons, the interneurons, and finally the efferent neurons. The structure of the typical neuron is usually made up of three parts. One of these parts is the cell body which contains the cell�s nucleus and very important clusters of endoplasmic reticulum which are known as nissl bodies. The nissl bodies are used in the regeneration of damaged axons and the growth of the neuron itself. There are two extensions from the neuron�s cell body which are significant in the obtaining and relaying information stage....
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