Roxanne Khamsi A hormone produced during pregnancy could reverse some of the neurological damage associated with multiple sclerosis, a mouse study suggests. The finding could help explain why women with MS suffer fewer symptoms during pregnancy. And the results suggest that the hormone - prolactin - might one day be used to treat people with the disorder. Multiple sclerosis involves the destruction of the sheath of fatty tissue called myelin that normally protects nerve cells. The loss of this protective layer disrupts nerve signalling and leads to symptoms including loss of coordination. To simulate neurological damage in female mice, Samuel Weiss of the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, and colleagues injected small amounts of a myelin-degrading toxin into the spine of the animals. Some of the mice were then allowed to mate and became pregnant, after which the team injected both groups with a marker compound which integrates with the DNA of new cells, allowing these to be clearly identified. When researchers examined the animals' spinal cords they found the pregnant mice had many more new cells around the site of nerve damage than the non-pregnant animals. Journal reference: Journal of Neuroscience (DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.4441-06.2007) © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 5: Hormones and the Brain
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 8: Hormones and Sex
Link ID: 9999 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Carbon monoxide may protect against MS symptoms

Roxanne Khamsi In a novel experiment, moderate doses of carbon monoxide protected against the symptoms of multiple sclerosis in mice. Researchers believe that the poisonous gas prevents the development of symptoms, such as paralysis, by stopping harmful molecules called free radicals from forming in the nervous symptom. Miguel Soares at the Gulbenkian Science Institute in Oeiras, Portugal, and colleagues injected the animals with a protein mixture known to cause experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS). Ten days later some of the mice were placed in a chamber where they breathed carbon monoxide (CO) at a concentration of about 500 parts per million for 20 days. Soares notes that while the mice functioned normally at this level of CO exposure, a similar concentration of the gas can cause headaches and fainting in humans. At the end of the trial, the mice that had breathed CO showed much greater mobility than their control counterparts. While the experimental mice had limp tails, the control mice suffered complete hind limb paralysis. Soares suspects that CO works in this fashion because it promotes the binding of iron to heme molecules within the nervous system. Heme molecules that lack iron can increase the production of free radicals, which damage cells. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 9887 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Worms may keep multiple sclerosis at bay

Erika Check Could a spoonful of worm eggs help patients to fight the crippling symptoms of a nerve disease? Perhaps, say scientists who suggest that patients with multiple sclerosis can benefit from certain types of parasitic infection. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease in which the body's own defence cells attack protective nerve tissue. This can cause pain and problems with vision, movement, memory and thinking. But scientists in Argentina have published a study claiming that these symptoms of the disease may be lessened in people whose immune system has been affected by a parasite. The scientists, who report their work in Annals of Neurology, studied 24 people with multiple sclerosis for more than four years, half of whom became infected with parasites after they were diagnosed with MS1. Among the patients with parasites, there were only three clinical relapses, compared with 56 in the non-infected group. And only half of the infected patients incurred brain lesions from MS, compared with all of the non-infected patients. Certain types of immune cells, known as T cells, produce chemicals that trigger the crippling attacks of MS. The scientists found that T cells from the parasite-infected patients were less likely to produce these chemicals. Perhaps the parasites programme the T cells to shut down destructive signals, says Jorge Correale of the Raúl Carrea Institute for Neurological Research in Buenos Aires, one of the two scientists who publish today's work. ©2007 Nature Publishing Group

Vitamin D may cut multiple sclerosis risk, study finds

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People with higher levels of vitamin D have a markedly reduced risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study published on Tuesday that may point to a promising way to protect against the disease. MS is an incurable and often disabling disease of the central nervous system that appears most often among young adults and affects 2 million people globally. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston combed a massive repository of serum samples from more than 7 million U.S. military personnel to find 257 people who developed MS. Their samples were analyzed for vitamin D levels and compared with a group of randomly picked military personnel from the same broad population who did not develop MS. Among the white people studied, the chances of developing MS fell as vitamin D levels in the body rose, according to findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Among whites, the majority of those in the study, the risks of MS fell 62 percent for those in the top fifth of vitamin D concentration. © 1996-2006 Scientific American, Inc.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 9776 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Good Cell, Bad Cell

By Laura Blackburn One of the chief instigators of multiple sclerosis (MS) has a split personality. Immune cells known as microglia usually protect the nervous system, but when things go wrong, they strip neurons of myelin--their protective coating--leading to muscle spasms and memory difficulties. Now researchers have uncovered new clues into what turns these cellular Dr. Jekylls into Mr. Hydes. When good microglia go bad, it's usually because of a protein called interferon gamma (IFN-gamma). Produced by the body's T-cells, IFN-gamma stimulates microglia to produce a myelin-damaging protein called tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). To see if microglia could be turned away from the dark side, neuroimmunologist Michal Schwartz of the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Rehovet, Israel, examined mouse and rat models of MS. When the researchers looked at the response of microglia in these animals to various levels of IFN-gamma and a related protein, interleukin-4 (IL-4), they found that only high levels of IFN-gamma trigger microglia's damaging rampages. When IFN-gamma is low, microglia protect neurons just fine. And when IL-4 is around, it overcomes the malicious effects of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha, switching microglia from nasty to nurturing. Under these conditions, microglia encourage the cells that make myelin, called oligodendrocytes, to repair damaged neurons. © 2006 American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Vaccine could stop MS in its tracks

Andy Coghlan THE immune cells that attack the brains and nerves of people with multiple sclerosis could be turned into a weapon against the disease. This month sees the beginning of a trial of a personalised vaccine for MS, designed to rein in and destroy the renegade white blood cells that attack myelin cells lining the brain and nerves of patients. To make the vaccine, PharmaFrontiers of Woodlands, Texas, takes blood from an MS patient and extracts a sample of these renegade cells. The cells are then multiplied and weakened with radiation before being re-injected into the patient, whose immune system will then recognise them as damaged and attack them, sometimes wiping them out completely, according to the results of earlier trials. The immune system will also attack healthy renegade cells, which have the same markers on their surface. In one trial of 15 people with MS the rate of new flare-ups was reduced by 92 per cent. If this success is repeated in the new trial it might mean that regular shots could slow or even arrest progression of the disease. "If that's the case, the earlier we can do it after diagnosis the better," says David McWilliams of PharmaFrontiers. In the current trial, 100 patients will receive the treatment and 50 a dummy treatment. The vaccine would only need to be injected four times a year, while other MS drugs need to be given on a weekly or daily basis. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Do Over: New MS drug may be safe after all

Nathan Seppa An experimental drug for multiple sclerosis (MS) that was approved in 2004, then abruptly yanked off shelves last year because of safety concerns, may get a second chance. Two studies show that the drug can curb MS symptoms and slow progression of the autoimmune disease over 2 years, the longest tests of this drug to date. A third investigation finds no further cases of the often-fatal complication that sidetracked the drug last year, beyond the three patients who fell ill at that time. All three papers appear in the March 2 New England Journal of Medicine. The drug, natalizumab, was pulled 4 months after its approval by the Food and Drug Administration. Three patients in clinical trials had developed progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare nervous system disorder caused by a virus that attacks people with suppressed immunity. The withdrawal came after doctors had written roughly 7,000 prescriptions for natalizumab for MS, rheumatoid arthritis, and an intestinal ailment called Crohn's disease. The drug was marketed as Tysabri by Biogen Idec of Cambridge, Mass., and Elan Corp. of Dublin, which both funded the new studies testing the drug's effectiveness. Copyright ©2006 Science Service.

Could the pill halve multiple-sclerosis risk?

Roxanne Khamsi Women who take the contraceptive pill cut their short-term risk of developing multiple sclerosis by nearly half, according to a survey. The study suggests that the pill could help delay onset of the debilitating neurodegenerative disease. Birth-control pills contain oestrogen, one of the most significant female reproductive hormones. The compound, whether produced naturally or taken as a pill, helps to regulate the menstrual cycle. The survey's discovery adds to a range of positive effects that oestrogen has on non-reproductive organs. The hormone seems, for example, to stop bone loss and forestall heart disease. It can provide relief from hot flushes and may even protect against cognitive decline, although studies linking cancer with hormone-replacement therapy in post-menopausal women have recently curbed medical experts' enthusiasm for oestrogen-containing drugs. Roughly two-thirds of multiple-sclerosis patients are female, and women generally have higher levels of oestrogen than men. So the disease has been blamed on the hormone in the past, explains Alvaro Alonso of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, who led the recent study. In fact, some doctors warn women with a family history of multiple sclerosis not to take the pill. ©2005 Nature Publishing Group

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 5: Hormones and the Brain
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 8: Hormones and Sex
Link ID: 7888 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Younger siblings cut multiple sclerosis risk

Children who live with younger siblings during the first six years of childhood are much less likely to develop multiple sclerosis later in life, a new study suggests. The finding backs the so-called "hygiene hypothesis" which proposes that exposure to infectious bugs early in life - lurking in household dirt or carried by younger siblings - reduces the risk of allergic and autoimmune diseases by stimulating the immune system. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system is thought to attack the fatty coat which insulates nerve cells. Damage to this sheath stops the nerves conducting electrical signals properly. The study showed that living with a toddler sibling for over five years could reduce the risk of developing MS by almost 90%. "This possibly occurs by altering childhood infection patterns and related immune responses," says Anne-Louise Ponsonby at the Australian National University in Canberra, who led the study. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 6755 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Anger as cannabis drug fails MS trial

Heather Tomlinson A multiple sclerosis treatment made from cannabis has been rejected by UK regulators, outraging patient groups who say it has benefits for sufferers. The news that Sativex cannot go on sale sent the shares of GW Pharmaceuticals, the company developing the drug, down 25% to close at 106.5p. The news precedes a meeting between Home Office and Department of Health ministers next week. The meeting was prompted by MPs' concerns that MS sufferers are having to buy cannabis off the street to relieve their symptoms. The meeting had planned to look at ways of getting the treatment out more quickly. "The [regulator] has failed to listen to those with MS who reported positive and sustained benefit from Sativex, in a properly designed and statistically significant trial," said Christine Jones, the chief executive of the MS Trust. "I hope the [regulator] will reconsider their position and give some thought to the impact of this decision on the lives of those with painful, chronic disease." The MS Society said the news was "extremely disappointing". Sativex is a nasal spray made from extracts of cannabis plants, which the Home Office allows GW to farm for medical purposes. It contains THC - the compound in cannabis that causes the "high". © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

Vitamin Boost

From muscle strength to immunity, scientists find new vitamin D benefits Janet Raloff The story of vitamin D would appear simple. Take in enough sun or drink enough fortified milk to get the recommended daily amount, and you'll have strong bones. Take a supplement, if you want insurance. But recent studies from around the world have revealed that the sunshine vitamin's role in health is far more complex. More than just protecting bone, vitamin D is proving to preserve muscle strength and to give people some protection against deadly diseases including multiple sclerosis (MS), diabetes, and even cancer. What's now clear is that vitamin D is a potent force in regulating cell growth, immunity, and energy metabolism, observes David Feldman of Stanford University School of Medicine. He's the editor of a new 1,300-page compilation of research findings from more than 100 labs working on this substance (2004, Vitamin D, Academic Press). Not only is the vitamin gaining increasing respect as a governor of health, he notes, but it's also serving as the model for drugs that might tame a range of recalcitrant diseases. Ironically, observes bone-metabolism specialist Robert P. Heaney of Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Neb., vitamin D is a misnomer. "A vitamin is an essential food constituent that the body can't make," he explains, but people have the capacity, right in their skin, to produce all the vitamin D they need from a cholesterol-like precursor. Copyright ©2004 Science Service.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 5: Hormones and the Brain
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 8: Hormones and Sex
Link ID: 6214 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Ancient Virus Tied to Multiple Sclerosis

An ancient virus that likely infected one of our primate ancestors 50 million years ago may contribute to the nervous system damage that causes multiple sclerosis (MS). A snippet of the virus's DNA, now embedded in the human genome, boosts production of damaging compounds in the brains of mice with a condition like MS, according to a report in the October issue of Nature Neuroscience. MS is a debilitating neurological disease caused by the destruction of oligodendrocytes, cells that build the myelin sheaths that surround the signal transmitting axons of neurons. Damaged sheaths lead to the primary symptoms, including muscle spasms, vision impairments, and memory problems. Some scientists have suggested that infectious agents such as viruses or bacteria spark an autoimmune response that causes the disease. The new study suggests a novel alternative: that the culprit could already be hiding in human DNA. Approximately 8% of the human genome is made up of DNA from viruses that slipped in their genetic material as our ancestors evolved. Called human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), the vast majority of these ancient viruses are no longer functional. One exception is HERV-W. It carries instructions for making the protein syncytin, a critical element in the formation of the placenta. But HERV-W may have a dark side too. Copyright © 2004 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 6173 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Repairing Damage in Multiple Sclerosis

Normally, a network of nerve fibers effortlessly sends messages between the brain, spinal cord, and the rest of the body. Not so in multiple sclerosis (MS). The immune system, an internal defense team designed to attack foreign invaders like germs, is thought to mistakenly attack the message system and damage myelin, a substance that insulates nerve fibers and speeds up message conduction. Communications start to resemble an erratic cell phone call that fades in and out. Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Underlying fibers may also suffer damage, severing communication lines. Click, the phone call goes dead. As more and more messages fail to transmit properly, people with MS face an array of problems, including blurred vision, poor coordination, impaired balance, numbness, and fatigue. Some 400,000 Americans are affected. Treatment strategies generally have aimed at blocking future immune attacks to help prevent additional harm. Now scientists have made headway in fighting the disease from another angle. One line of study indicates that cell transplants hold promise in repairing the existing damage so that communication lines can get back up and running. This research is leading to: Copyright © 2004 Society for Neuroscience

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 6024 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Statins may curb multiple sclerosis

Human trial gives thumbs up to heart drug. HELEN R. PILCHER Cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins may help to treat multiple sclerosis, a human study suggests. A daily dose of the heart medicine helped to slow brain deterioration in patients with the condition. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is thought to arise as the immune system attacks the nervous system, peppering the brain with tiny holes. Statins can affect the immune system, and have been shown to ease symptoms in mice with a version of MS. In the first trial of its kind, Inderjit Singh from the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, and colleagues tested the therapy on human patients. Thirty patients took the drug simvastatin each day. Six months later, the number and size of lesions within their brains had decreased by around 40%, the team report in the Lancet1. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2004

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 5467 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Rethinking Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) has long been thought of as an autoimmune disease. But new research suggests that it's not immune cells that strip the insulation off neurons and cause neurological symptoms. Rather, the insulation may be disrupted when the cells that build it self-destruct. In MS, the insulating layer of myelin around neurons degrades, leading to loss of muscle control, numbness, or cognitive problems. Most researchers have thought this happens when the victim's own immune cells move in on the myelin and chew it up, leaving plaquelike scars behind. Now, neurologists Michael Barnett and John Prineas of the University of Sydney, Australia, have found evidence to the contrary. They autopsied 12 patients who died from MS shortly after suffering a bout of neurological symptoms. All of the patients had the plaquelike scars typical of MS. But contrary to all expectations, seven of them had intact myelin and little inflammation, the researchers reported online this week in Annals of Neurology. Copyright © 2004 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 5041 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Vitamin D health benefit boon?

Supplements lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. HELEN R. PILCHER A diet rich in vitamin D may reduce the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Two studies involving more than 200,000 American women have highlighted the vitamin's benefits. Women who consumed the recommended daily amount of vitamin D or more were 30% less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis1, and 40% less likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS)2, than those on lower doses. One or two people in 100 worldwide typically develop rheumatoid arthritis, which causes swollen, painful joints. Around 0.04% of the world's population has MS - an incurable condition that can cause fatigue, tremor and paralysis. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2004

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 4796 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Cannabis study shows small MS benefit

Multiple sclerosis patients report some relief in pot trial. HELEN PEARSON Cannabis may soothe symptoms of multiple sclerosis, concludes the first large-scale clinical trial of the drug's perceived benefit to sufferers. Legally, the drug remains largely out of bounds. The British study is the one of the strongest scientific endorsements of patients' anecdotal evidence that cannabis helps to relieve the pain of multiple sclerosis (MS). John Zajicek of the University of Plymouth and his team gave 630 patients either a placebo, cannabis extract, or a synthetic form of marijuana's most active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). After 15 weeks, 60% of patients taking the drugs reported that it helped their pain and muscle stiffness, compared with 46% of those on the placebo. It also helped them to walk more easily. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Stem cells help paralysed mice walk

Injections appear to treat mouse multiple sclerosis. HELEN R. PILCHER Injections of cultured adult brain stem cells seem to have helped mice with a form of multiple sclerosis to recover from paralysis. Researchers hope that similar therapies may one day treat human sufferers of the disease. Cells injected into the bloodstream found their way to the animals' brains, where they repaired damaged and inflamed areas. Four out of 15 mice with paralysed back legs moved normally after treatment1. "It's a great recovery," says team member Angelo Vescovi of the Stem Cell Research Institute at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy. The other 11 mice retained only minor tail paralysis. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Starvation could relieve multiple sclerosis

Study in mice links appetite hormone and autoimmune disease. HANNAH HOAG Starvation could relieve the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseases, a new study suggests1. Mice with a condition akin to MS that were deprived of food for 48 hours still developed the disease but had fewer brain lesions and performed better on tests of walking, balance, weakness and paralysis. "Using a nutritional approach together with other drugs might offset the progression of MS," says study leader Giuseppe Matarese of the University of Napoli Federico II in Italy. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

MS damage repaired by stem cells

NewScientist.com news service Damage caused by multiple sclerosis could be repaired using stem cells extracted from a patient's bone marrow, new research suggests. A team led by Bruce Brew at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, Australia, coaxed adult stem cells from mice and people into becoming oligodendrocytes - cells that manufacture the fatty myelin sheath that insulates nerve cells. This sheath is essential for effective signalling in the brain. In patients with MS, the immune system attacks myelin, causing progressive muscle weakness, memory and vision problems. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

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