Physical therapy is an exercise treatment methodology aimed at the treatment and curing of certain physical ailments, through exercise and stretching. While at the same time preventing the chances of any re-occurrences further on down the road.
Introduction ? Neuropathic pain is a complex, chronic pain state that usually is accompanied by tissue injury. With neuropathic pain, the nerve fibers themselves may be damaged, dysfunctional or injured.
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Aquaporin-4 (AQP4) is a water-selective transporter expressed in astrocytes throughout the central nervous system, as well as in kidney, lung, stomach and skeletal muscle. The two AQP4 isoforms produced by alternative spicing, M1 and M23 AQP4, form heterotetramers that assemble in cell plasma membranes in supramolecular structures called orthogonal arrays of particles (OAPs). Phenotype analysis of AQP4-null mice indicates the involvement of AQP4 in brain and spinal cord water balance, astrocyte migration, neural signal transduction and neuroinflammation.
Primary loss and dysfunction of astrocytes may trigger demyelination, as seen in neuromyelitis optica, an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. In most patients affected by this disease, injury to astrocytes is initiated by the action of autoantibodies targeting aquaporin 4 (AQP-4), a water channel on astrocytes.