Experiment Proving Lambert-Eaton Syndrome (LES) Patients Potassium Channels Conduct Electrical Current

To understand Lambert-Eaton syndrome (LES), a general understanding of the nervous system is necessary first. The human nervous system consists of the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS), the central nervous system consists of the brain and the spinal cord, and the PNS contains all the nerve tissue outside the CNS. The PNS consists of two basic types of neurons (neurons): motor neurons and sensory neurons. Motor neurons (LES targets) are used to signal the body from the CNS to stimulate responses.

Introduction Lambert - Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) is an autoimmune disease. It is characterized by muscle weakness in the proximal lower limb by autoantibodies produced by voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCC) found on the presynaptic membrane of the neuromuscular junction (1). In most cases, LEMS is usually associated with cancer (especially small cell lung cancer) and is therefore classified as a tumor-associated syndrome (2, 3). Voltage-dependent calcium channels begin with an understanding of the structure of voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCC). In general, VGCC consists of five subunits (α1, α2, β, β, γ) and is classified into 5 different subtypes based on their electrophysiological and pharmacological properties (L, N, P) be able to. / Q, R, T type) (2, 7) The structure of a typical VGCC is shown in Figure 1 below.

In conclusion, Lambert - Eaton muscle weakness syndrome is an autoimmune disease that may cause muscle weakness in patients. Decrease in muscular strength is due to insufficient release of ACh at the neuromuscular junction. In 85% of these patients, this is caused by the inactivation of P / Q type VGCC on the presynaptic membrane by autoantibodies. So, what about the remaining 10-15% of LEMS patients who do not have anti-P / Q VGCC antibodies? Many scientists raised the same problem and conducted a survey to find another mechanism for the pathogenesis of LEMS in seronegative patients. (The term "serine negative" is used to refer to patients who can not detect anti - P / Q antibodies.)