Jason Leonard A, Sorenson Matthew, Porter Nicole, Belkairous Natalie
DePaul University, Center for Community Research. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, USA.
Neurosci Med. 2011 Mar 1;2(1):14-27. doi: 10.4236/nm.2011.21003.
Kindling might represent a heuristic model for understanding the etiology of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Kindling occurs when an organism is exposed repeatedly to an initially sub-threshold stimulus resulting in hypersensitivity and spontaneous seizure-like activity. Among patients with ME/CFS, chronically repeated low-intensity stimulation due to an infectious illness might cause kindling of the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary axis. Kindling might also occur by high-intensity stimulation (e.g., brain trauma) of the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary axis. Once this system is charged or kindled, it can sustain a high level of arousal with little or no external stimulus and eventually this could lead to hypocortisolism. Seizure activity may spread to adjacent structures of the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary axis in the brain, which might be responsible for the varied symptoms that occur among patients with ME/CFS. In addition, kindling may also be responsible for high levels of oxidative stress, which has been found in patients with ME/CFS.
点燃效应可能是理解肌痛性脑脊髓炎/慢性疲劳综合征（ME/CFS）病因的一种启发式模型。当生物体反复暴露于最初低于阈值的刺激时，就会发生点燃效应，从而导致超敏反应和类似癫痫发作的自发活动。在ME/CFS患者中，由传染病引起的慢性反复低强度刺激可能会导致边缘 - 下丘脑 - 垂体轴的点燃效应。边缘 - 下丘脑 - 垂体轴受到高强度刺激（如脑外伤）也可能发生点燃效应。一旦这个系统被激活或点燃，它可以在很少或没有外部刺激的情况下维持高水平的唤醒状态，最终这可能导致皮质醇分泌不足。癫痫活动可能会扩散到大脑中边缘 - 下丘脑 - 垂体轴的相邻结构，这可能是ME/CFS患者出现各种症状的原因。此外，点燃效应也可能是ME/CFS患者中发现的高水平氧化应激的原因。
