Additionally, exposure to commercial insecticides like sheep dip, weed killers, and flea treatment preparations for pets, which contain organophosphates, can also lead to nerve demyelination.
[7] In the most well-known demyelinating disease, multiple sclerosis, evidence suggests that the body's immune system plays a significant role.
Unlike other primates, humans exhibit a unique pattern of postpubertal myelination, which may contribute to the development of psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases that present in early adulthood and beyond.
[12] Therefore, the role of the human-specific prolonged period of cortical myelination is an important evolutionary consideration in the pathogenesis of demyelinating disease.
The demyelinating diseases of the peripheral nervous system include:[citation needed] Treatments are patient-specific and depend on the symptoms that present with the disorder, as well as the progression of the condition.
Treatment can include medication, lifestyle changes (i.e. smoking cessation, increased rest, and dietary changes), counselling, relaxation, physical exercise, patient education, and in some cases, deep brain thalamic stimulation (to ameliorate tremors).
[15] MS is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that develops in genetically susceptible individuals after exposure to unknown environmental trigger(s).
The most accepted hypothesis is that dialogue between T-cell receptors and myelin antigens leads to an immune attack on the myelin-oligodendrocyte complex.
[15] Much of the research conducted on demyelinating diseases is targeted towards discovering the mechanisms by which these disorders function in an attempt to develop therapies and treatments for individuals affected by these conditions.
[26][27] Manipulating thyroid hormone levels may become a viable strategy to promote remyelination and prevent irreversible damage in MS patients.
[29] Finally, electrical stimulation which activates neural stem cells may provide a method by which regions of demyelination can be repaired.
Some of these animals include mice, pigs, cattle, hamsters, rats, sheep, Siamese kittens, and a number of dog breeds (including Chow Chow, Springer Spaniel, Dalmatian, Samoyed, Golden Retriever, Lurcher, Bernese Mountain Dog, Vizsla, Weimaraner, Australian Silky Terrier, and mixed breeds).