Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

Join us for the next free webinar presented by Stefan Clemens, PhD, HdR:
RLS & The Dopaminergic System
Thu, Jul 13, 2017 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM -6 UTC (in North America, this is CDT).

Dr. Clemens will discuss the role of dopamine and its impact on RLS, particularly its effects in the spinal cord as the primary site of signal input for sensations from the legs to enter the nervous system. Dopaminergic pathways in the brain synthesize and release the neurotransmitter dopamine via several projection pathways, only one of which has access to the spinal cord. Dr. Clemens will provide background on the mechanism of the dopamine system in the spinal cord, present current research findings and trends, and illustrate how these findings impact those suffering with RLS.

Dr. Clemens will spend the first half of the hour covering this topic. The second half of the hour is reserved for answering questions on this topic submitted with pre-registration.

This webinar will be recorded and made available shortly after the live presentation.

https://register.gotowebinar.com/regist ... 4670039555

For those who did not have the opportunity to listen to Dr Clemens's webinar today, it was very informative. At times I had difficulties understanding his German accent, but the information that he presented was quite interesting and was very different from what other webinars have covered.

To me, the most important thing that he discussed were:

1. the source of all dopamines for the nerves in the spinal column is a very small number of nerve cells in the brain at the top of the spinal column. As the number of these cells drops with increasing age, so does the supply of dopamine to the nerve cells in the spinal column.
2. when the supply of dopamine to the D3 receptors in the spine is reduced, their ability to inhibit the need to move drops and so we need to move around. The current theory is that by moving, it helps these nerves suppress these urges even though the dopamine levels are low. Further, the dopamine agonists normally used to treat RLS specifically target the D3 receptors.
3. there are also D1 receptors in the sensory nerve cells in the spine. When the dopamine levels for the D1 receptors are not correct, it can cause the painful form of RLS that some of us experience.

He presented much more, but I am already pushing the limits of both my memory and understanding of what he said. This is one webinar that I definitely intend to listen to again because I think that I probably missed a lot that I would pick up the second time through.

Thanks for the synopsis, Steve.

Thanks Steve, I usually go onto the Foundation Web Site and catch up on a webinar when I am doing some ironing.