Multiple sclerosis: Myelin can be harmful to nerve fibers.
Posted by giorgiobertin on July 2, 2023
The researchers of theLeipzig University and the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen have found that myelin, previously thought to be exclusively protective, can actually threaten the survival of axons. The results were recently published in the journal “Nature Neuroscience” and open up new perspectives for future research and treatment options for the disease.
The lining of the axons, known as myelin, is made up of highly specialized glial cells (i.e. oligodendrocytes) and allows for the rapid transmission of electrical nerve impulses. To date, it has been hypothesized that in MS oligodendrocytes and myelin are degraded by immune cells and that the then vulnerable axons suffer irreversible damage as a result of further local inflammatory processes.
Research teams have been able to demonstrate that myelin, which was previously viewed as a purely protective structure, can actually threaten the survival of axons.
“When oligodendrocytes are exposed to an acute inflammatory environment, they can lose the ability to support axons and myelin becomes a threat to axon survival“, says Professor Klaus-Armin Nave from the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen.
“Instead of preserving damaged myelin, it may actually be therapeutically better to promote rapid degradation of damaged myelin and support regeneration of functional myelin“, adds Dr. Robert Fledrich.
The image series shows cross-sectional electron micrographs of individual nerve fibers in MS brain biopsies. Axons sheathed with myelin (black rings) can be seen, showing increasingly severe damage from 1 to 8. Credit: Leipzig University.
Read abstract of the article:
Myelin insulation as a risk factor for axonal degeneration in autoimmune demyelinating disease,
Erik Schäffner et al.
Nature Neuroscience (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01366-9
Source: Paul Flechsig Institute of Neuropathology, University Clinic Leipzig
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This entry was posted on luglio 2, 2023 a 7:54 am and is filed under News-search. Marked by tags: genetics, immunology, neurology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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