Neurogenic

Neurogenic is an adjective used in medicine and neuroscience to describe processes, symptoms, or conditions that originate from the nervous system. It contrasts with etiologies that are non-neurological or psychogenic. In clinical contexts, terms such as neurogenic pain or neurogenic bladder describe symptoms caused by nerve injury or dysfunction rather than by direct tissue damage.

Neurogenic pain often results from peripheral nerve injury, neuropathy, or central nervous system lesions, and may present as burning, shooting, or electric shock-like sensations. Neurogenic bladder refers to urinary dysfunction caused by impaired neural control of the bladder, often seen after spinal cord injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, or diabetes. The term also appears in other areas of neurology, such as neurogenic stuttering, a speech disorder arising from neurological injury rather than developmental causes, and neurogenic shock, a form of distributive shock due to loss of sympathetic tone after spinal cord injury.

In developmental and neurobiological contexts, neurogenic describes processes or capacities that generate neurons. Adult neurogenesis occurs in specific brain regions, notably the hippocampus and the subventricular zone, where neural stem cells proliferate and differentiate into mature neurons. The term is also used for phenomena like neurogenic inflammation, in which nervous system activity contributes to inflammatory responses.

Overall, neurogenic signals nervous-system–origin effects and is used across clinical and research disciplines to describe both disease-related manifestations and fundamental biological processes.