How do genetic defects cause Friedreichs Ataxia?
Motor nerve cells control muscle movement throughout the body via their long fibers, which transmit signals between the brain and spinal cord and the muscles. These fibers degenerate in Friedreich’s ataxia, perhaps because their mitochondria can’t regulate iron properly. Cells in the body’s sensory system (sensory nerve cells) also have fibers, and these too are lost in Friedreich’s ataxia.
