New Hope for Repairing Multiple Sclerosis Damage - AOL Health
Researchers at Cambridge and Edinburgh have discovered a way for stem cells in the brain to regenerate myelin sheath, which is needed to protect nerve fibers, reports BBC News. The studies, performed on rats, are exciting because they offer new hope that in the future, the damage done by multiple sclerosis could be repaired and physical function lost by patients could be restored.
MS is a defect in the body's immune system that attacks the fatty myelin sheath. Flare-ups are caused by the disease, and physical function is often lost. Myelin sheaths act as insulation to fibers that send important messages to the brain, and scientists have been in search of a way to help MS suffers -- some of whom experience some natural myelin repair, and others who do not.
The study showed that the patient's own brain could be stimulated to regenerate myelin. Professor Charles ffrench-Constant, one of the lead researchers, was hopeful that the discoveries made could lead to the development of new drugs. "The discovery is very exciting as it could potentially pave the way to find drugs that could help repair damage caused to the important layers that protect nerve cells in the brain," he told BBC Health News.
Dr. Michael Devereaux, a neurologist at University Hospitals, Case Medical Center said that although this research is in its early stages, the discovery is nevertheless exciting. "Stem cell research is an important contribution to fighting MS," he told AOL Health. "This should lead to dramatic breakthroughs in the regeneration of cells that make myelin, which wraps around the axons -- cable of nerves cells protecting the axons -- and allows them to conduct electrical impulses better."
Still, he cautioned that MS is "a whole brain disease" and that the myelin regeneration would only be part of the solution to a bigger problem. "It's useful research, but the ultimate answer is to stop the condition in the first place. It's a genetic disease and that's why stem cell research is so important."
Devereaux likened the research currently being done on MS to where we were in the 1930s with antibiotics and said that the results are still a long ways away from reaching the clinic. "It's inching us toward new treatments," he said optimistically. "Even the researchers would agree that this is not a cure for MS, but that it's an important step toward a cure."
More on Multiple Sclerosis:
D.C. Housewife Reveals She Has Multiple Sclerosis
J.K. Rowling Donates Millions to MS Research Clinic
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