Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. In this disorder, the immune system attacks the myelin sheath, or the cells that produce and maintain it. This attack causes inflammation and injury to the nerve sheath and, ultimately, to the nerve fibers that surround it. Probably the most well-known disease that attacks the myelin of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) is multiple sclerosis.
If myelin isn't repaired properly, nerve fibers become increasingly vulnerable to damage. And, over time, they may be lost. When this happens, the messages can no longer be transmitted and the symptoms become permanent. Most of the nerve fibers inside and outside the brain are covered by many layers of tissue made up of fat (lipoprotein) called myelin.
These layers form the myelin sheath. Like the insulation that surrounds an electrical cable, the myelin sheath allows nerve signals (electrical impulses) to be conducted along the nerve fiber quickly and precisely. When the myelin sheath is damaged (called demyelination), nerves don't conduct electrical impulses normally. Myelin is a fatty substance that surrounds and insulates axons (or nerve fibers) in the same way as the insulator to an electrical cable.
The MS Society Cambridge Myelin Repair Center is dedicated to better understanding the myelin repair process, with a special focus on the response to OPC. If you have multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease that causes the immune system to attack the central nervous system, your myelin sheaths can be damaged. Myelin sheaths don't develop normally in children with certain rare inherited diseases, such as Tay-Sachs disease, Tay-Sachs disease, and Sandhoff disease. Tay-Sachs disease and Sandhoff disease are types of lysosomal storage disorders called sphingolipidosis and are caused by the accumulation of gangliosides in brain tissues.
That scarring the nerves, known as sclerosis, and makes it difficult for them to transmit the messages that tell the body to move. Myelin is an essential substance that keeps nerves working, as it sends and receives communications from all parts of the body. Multiple Sclerosis Multiple Sclerosis (MS) In multiple sclerosis, myelin patches (the substance that covers most nerve fibers) and underlying nerve fibers in the brain, optic nerves, and spinal cord are damaged or destroyed. Others, such as chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy is a form of polyneuropathy that, like Guillain-Barré syndrome, causes increased muscle weakness, but weakness progresses over more than.
Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis Disorders that cause demyelination and have no known cause are called primary demyelinating disorders. Myelin is the protective fatty layer that surrounds nerve fibers, a bit like the insulation of an electrical cable. Several diseases and conditions, with multiple sclerosis being the most well-known, damage or destroy myelin. Neuromyelitis Optic Spectrum Disorder Neuromyelitis Optic Spectrum Disorder (NMOSD) Neuromyelitis Optic Spectrum Disorder primarily affects the nerves in the eyes and spinal cord and produces patches of myelin (the substance that covers most nerve fibers) and the nerve fibers underneath.
The Multiple Sclerosis Society's Edinburgh MS Research Center is using pioneering animal and tissue models to find the myelin repair treatments of tomorrow...
