José A. Vega

By F. de Carlos, A. Alvarez-Suárez, S. Costilla, I. Noval, J. A. Vega and J. Cobo

Part of the book: Computed Tomography

By C. Jiménez-Caro, F. de Carlos, A.A. Suárez, J.A. Vega and J. Cobo

Part of the book: Orthodontics

By Teresa Cobo, Emilio Macías, Covandonda Álvarez, Alberto Álvarez- Suárez, Felix de Carlos, Jose A. Vega and Juan Cobo

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a widely diffused disease associated with specific genetics, age, gender, craniofacial and upper airways anatomy, obesity, and endocrine conditions, but not with ethnicity profiles. The so‐called neurogenic neurogenic theory of OSAS postulates that the collapse of the upper airways that characterize this disease is due to peripheral nerve degeneration that leads to muscle atrophy and collapse. This review attempts to summarize the structural and functional changes in both the sensory and motor innervation of the walls of the upper air ways in patients suffering from OSAS.

Part of the book: Sleep Apnea

By Antonino Germanà, Juan D. Muriel, Ramón Cobo, Olivia García- Suárez, Juan Cobo and José A. Vega

Sensory information from the aquatic environment is required for life and survival of zebrafish. Changes in the environment are detected by specialized sensory cells that convert different types of stimuli into electric energy, thus originating an organ-specific transduction. Ion channels are at the basis of each sensory modality and are responsible or are required for detecting thermal, chemical, or mechanical stimuli but also for more complex sensory processes as hearing, olfaction, taste, or vision. The capacity of the sensory cells to preferentially detect a specific stimulus is the result of a characteristic combination of different ion channels. This chapter summarizes the current knowledge about the occurrence and localization of ion channels in sensory organs of zebrafish belonging to the superfamilies of transient-receptor potential and acid-sensing ion channels that are involved in different qualities of sensibility superfamilies in the sensory organs of zebrafish. This animal model is currently used to study some human pathologies in which ion channels are involved. Furthermore, zebrafish is regarded as an ideal model to study in vivo the transient-receptor potential ion channels.

Part of the book: Recent Advances in Zebrafish Researches

By Olivia García-Suárez, Yolanda García-Mesa, Jorge García-Piqueras, Giuseppina Salvo, Juan L. Cobo, Elda Alba, Ramón Cobo, Jorge Feito and José A. Vega

Cutaneous biopsy is a complementary method, alternative to peripheral nerve biopsy, for the analysis of nerve involvement in peripheral neuropathies, systemic diseases, and several pathologies of the central nervous system. Most of these neuropathological studies were focused on the intraepithelial nerve fibers (thin-myelinated Aδ fibers and unmyelinated C fibers), and few studies investigated the variations in dermal innervation, that is, large myelinated fibers, Merkel’s cell-neurite complexes, and Meissner’s corpuscles. Here, we updated and summarized the current data about the quantitative and qualitative changes that undergo MCs and MkCs in peripheral neuropathies. Moreover, we provide a comprehensive rationale to include MCs in the study of cutaneous biopsies when analyzing the peripheral neuropathies and aim to provide a protocol to study them.

Part of the book: Demystifying Polyneuropathy

By Juan L. Cobo, Antonio Solé-Magdalena, Sonsoles Junquera, Teresa Cobo, José Antonio Vega and Juan Cobo

Proprioception is a quality of somatosensibility that informs the central nervous system about the static and dynamics of muscles and joints. In muscles, the proprioceptive originates in the specialized sensory-organ-denominated muscle spindles. Nevertheless, facial muscles lack muscle spindles, but the facial proprioception plays key roles in the regulation and coordination of facial musculature and diverse reflexes. At the basis of these functional characteristics are the multiple communications between the facial and the trigeminal nerves, and neuroanatomical studies have demonstrated that facial proprioceptive impulses are conveyed via branches of the trigeminal nerve to the central nervous system. Substituting muscle spindles facial muscles contain other kinds of proprioceptors of variable morphology that display immunoreactivity for some putative mechanoproteins known to participate in proprioception (acid-sensing ion channel 2, transient receptor potential vanilloid 4, and Piezo2).

Part of the book: Selected Topics in Facial Nerve Disorders

By Juan L. Cobo, Manuela Cabrera-Freitag, Teresa Cobo, Juan D. Muriel, Luis M. Junquera, Juan Cobo and José A. Vega

Temporomandibular disorders are common maxillofacial disturbs of different etiologies (traumatic, inflammatory, degenerative, or congenital) that course with pain and dysfunctions of the temporomandibular joint. The treatment of these disorders includes systematically administered drugs (especially nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs and corticoids), physical therapies, and minimally invasive therapies that require intraarticular injections. These techniques are directed to clean or drain the articular cavity, to deliver intraarticularly drugs, biologically active compounds (as platelet-rich plasma), or to enhance lubrication (hyaluronic acid). Moreover, minimally invasive strategies are used in regenerative medicine for to deliver cells and stem cells, and nano- or micro-biomaterials. Surgery of temporomandibular disorders is only used in grave diseases that require arthrodesis or remotion of the temporomandibular joint. This review updates the nonsurgical therapeutic strategies to treat temporomandibular disorders, focusing the attention in the articular delivery or hyaluronic acid and platelet-rich plasma, two minimally invasive widely used at present.

Part of the book: Cartilage Tissue Engineering and Regeneration Techniques

By Ramón Cobo, Yolanda García-Mesa, Jorge García-Piqueras, Jorge Feito, José Martín-Cruces, Olivía García-Suárez and José A. Vega

Sensory corpuscles of human skin are structures located at the peripheral end of the mechanoreceptive neurons and function as low-threshold mechanoreceptors (LTMRs). In its structure, in addition to the axon, there are glial cells, not myelinating, that are organized in different ways according to the morphotype of sensitive corpuscle, forming the so-called laminar cells of Meissner’s corpuscles, the laminar cells of the inner core of Pacinian corpuscles, or cells of the inner core in Ruffini’s corpuscles. Classically the glial cells of sensory corpuscles have been considered support cells and passive in the process of mechanotransduction. However, the presence of ion channels and synapses-like systems between them and the axon suggests that corpuscular glial cells are actively involved in the transformation of mechanical into electrical impulses. This chapter is an update on the origin, development, cytoarchitecture, and protein profile of glial cells of sensitive corpuscles especially those of human glabrous skin.

Part of the book: Somatosensory and Motor Research

By José A. Vega and Juan Cobo

The proprioception is the sense of positioning and movement. It is mediate by proprioceptors, a small subset of mechanosensory neurons localized in the dorsal root ganglia that convey information about the stretch and tension of muscles, tendons, and joints. These neurons supply of afferent innervation to specialized sensory organs in muscles (muscle spindles) and tendons (Golgi tendon organs). Thereafter, the information originated in the proprioceptors travels throughout two main nerve pathways reaching the central nervous system at the level of the spinal cord and the cerebellum (unconscious) and the cerebral cortex (conscious) for processing. On the other hand, since the stimuli for proprioceptors are mechanical (stretch, tension) proprioception can be regarded as a modality of mechanosensitivity and the putative mechanotransducers proprioceptors begins to be known now. The mechanogated ion channels acid-sensing ion channel 2 (ASIC2), transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) and PIEZO2 are among candidates. Impairment or poor proprioception is proper of aging and some neurological diseases. Future research should focus on treating these defects. This chapter intends provide a comprehensive update an overview of the anatomical, structural and molecular basis of proprioception as well as of the main causes of proprioception impairment, including aging, and possible treatments.

Part of the book: Proprioception