Abstract:

The phenomenon of delayed neurodegenerative syndromes following lighting and electrical injury has been know since the early 1930’s, but to the present day the mechanisms involved have been poorly understood. An initial theory is that the electrical insult causes damage to the vascular structures feeding the spinal cord via damage to vascular endothelial cells. There is evidence suggesting that glutamatergic overstimulation can bring about damaging free radicals and that some of these free radicals can be derived from lipids. Using this evidence, it has been suggested that in cases where delayed demyelinating syndromes occur following electrical and lightning injury, and when vascular damage has not been detected, the electrical overstimulation may create damaging free radicals directly in the lipid-rich myelin cells. Dr. Andrew D. Reisner, who comes from Forensic Diagnostic Center of District Nine in USA, reviewed the literature on the effects of cortisol elevation, glutamatergic over-stimulation, and formation of destructive free radicals, and explanations for both forms of delayed neurological damage were offered. With regard to the electroporation hypothesis, it is unclear as to whether electroporation would cause immediate versus delayed neurological damage.