Your nervous system consists of branching pathways of nerves that connect to muscles, tissues, bones and organs to allow the brain to communicate with the body. Your nerves, like your bones or muscles, need specific nutrients and compounds in order to grow and maintain their function. Talk to your doctor about vitamins and other supplements that can help repair or regrow your nerves.
Nervous System
The nervous system is technically divided into two large groups -- the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, the central nervous system, or CNS, consists of the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system, or PNS, is all the other nerve areas of the body. Signals from nerves go both to the brain as well as away from the brain. The brain sends signals to various parts of the body to perform specific functions, while nerves also send signals back to the brain that provide information about the internal or external environment. According to Georgia Perimeter College, the nervous system maintains homeostasis, or balance, in the body and protects you.
Neurons
Neurons are the functional cells of the nervous system. Georgia Perimeter College states neurons "function primarily in conducting or transferring and receiving signals from all parts of the body to the CNS." You have millions of neurons in your body, all of which have dendrites, a cell body and an axon. Dendrites are hair-like projections on the cell body that will receive and conduct impulses. The axon is long and extends out from the cell body, and is covered with a myelin sheath. Much like wires are often coated with a nonconductive substance, myelin insulates the axon. Damage to this sheath can cause nerve pain as well as neuropathy, which is a disorder of the nerves. Neuron growth and maintenance is performed by support cells like astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, microglia cells and ependymal cells.
Benfotiamine
Some research has found a fat-soluble version of vitamin B-1 may be helpful in repairing and preventing damage to nerves. Purportedly, benfotiamine can remain in the body longer than water-soluble vitamin B-1. A study published in "Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology and Diabetes" in November 2008 examined the effects of benfotiamine on patients with diabetic neuropathy. Two groups received the vitamin, one group taking 600 mg per day, while the other group took 300 mg. A control group received no treatment. The study found those patients in the 600 mg group saw the most improvement in their neuropathy. Although the study did not specifically focus on the growth of neurons, less pain can indicate a repair of nervous tissue.
Vitamin B-12
Vitamin B-12 is a vitamin that plays a fundamental role in many different processes in your body. It is needed to make DNA, to help break down carbohydrates, proteins and fats as well as to help maintain nerve and red blood cells. In April 2010, "Nutritional Neuroscience" released a study that tested methylcobalamin, or methylated vitamin B-12, on diabetic rats. The study discovered treatments of methylcobalamin inhibited or delayed peripheral neuropathy, potentially through IGF-1 nerve expression. The vitamin helped prevent the breakdown of IGF-1, but was most effective when blood-sugar levels were kept under control. Although this data is promising, vitamin B-12 should not be considered a treatment for diabetic neuropathy.
Nerve Growth Factor
Sometimes just one vitamin or other substance is not enough to stimulate nerve cell growth. "Clinical and Experimental Optometry" featured a study aimed at determining the effectiveness of a blend of substances, called nerve growth factor, in reversing damage to the optical nerve. Published in September 2010, the study found a combination of a corticosteroid, energy mixture, vitamins B-1 and B-12 and an herb called red sage root was effective in repairing serious optic nerve damage. Injected intramuscularly, if given within three weeks of trauma, this substance was found to "promote the recovery of visual function in the patients with serious optic nerve contusion."
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Nervous System
- Georgia Perimeter College: Nervous System
- "Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology and Diabetes"; Benfotiamine in diabetic polyneuropathy (BENDIP): results of a randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical study; H. Stracke et al; November 2008
- "Nutritional Neuroscience"; The preventive efficacy of methylcobalamin on rat peripheral neuropathy influenced by diabetes via neural IGF-1 levels; L. Jian-bo et al; April 2010
- "Clinical and Experimental Optometry"; The early effect of nerve growth factor in the management of serious optic nerve contusion; Y. Zhong et al; September 2010
