Scientists believe longer lasting treatments will involve a combination of therapies that address a variety of theories. New research on ALS also may lend insight into other neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Each illness also results from nerve cell death in a certain area of the brain. Thus, treatment models for ALS may help in the development of therapies for these other scourges as well. Glutamate also may lead to the production of detrimental calcium, which can churn out its own supply of DNA-harming free radicals.
Abnormalities can lead to an accumulation of the toxic calcium.
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