Norepinephrine in reflex sympathetic dystrophy: an hypothesis.
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) usually occurs in an individual who has been experiencing significant personal stress, a state associated with increased discharge of norepinephrine (NE) from perivascular postganglionic sympathetic neurons. RSD is often precipitated by this sequence: traumatic arterial spasm, regional ischemia, neurogenic inflammation, and ischemic/edematous damage to membranes of preterminal perivascular nociceptive neurons. In the natural repair of these membranes, it is suggested that adrenoceptors appear and are ordinarily transitory; but in RSD, they are retained by the increased adjacent NE. This process delays further healing, produces pain, and releases inflammatory substances, resulting in interacting pathophysiologic vicious cycles.
Ecker
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Department of Neurosurgery, State University of New York Health Science Center, Syracuse.
D006801:Humans; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000502:physiology*; D012019:Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy / Q000503:physiopathology*
D009638:Norepinephrine