Jneuro: scientists find a new way to repair myelin sheath

August 30, 2018 / bioin / - finding ways to repair myelin sheath is considered as important as preventing disability progression in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients Recently, researchers from the University of Melbourne have found a way to reconstruct the damaged myelin sheath of Ms the research team led by Jessica Fletcher has completed the research The related research results are recently published in Journal of neuroscience Photo source: the Journal of neuroscience "your brain works through electrical signals So, like wires, your nervous system needs insulation These neurons are surrounded by a layer of insulation called myelin, so myelin is essential for our nervous system to function properly " Dr Fletcher said "But for patients with MS and other diseases, this insulating myelin sheath is destroyed by the immune system, which leads to serious neuronal dysfunction, and also leads to delayed or inhibited nerve conduction in the brain and other parts of the body." Dr Fletcher said his team had successfully used a synthetic compound to stimulate a receptor signaling pathway in the brain that promotes myelin regeneration "At present, there is no way to help repair the damaged myelin sheath The beauty of what we've done is that we use what happens in healthy cells to manipulate the damaged cells to produce similar responses " She said "It's very basic research to explain the feasibility of this idea "Dr Fletcher said that this is only the earliest research, and there is still a long way to go before the real clinical application Reference: Jessica L Fletcher et al Targeting TrkB with a brain derived neurotechnical factor metric promotions myelin repair in the brain, the Journal of Neuroscience (2018) Doi: 10.1523/junirosci.0487-18.2018