A small molecule, Sephin1, may be able to significantly delay harm to nerve cells caused by multiple sclerosis, a disabling immune-mediated disease that damages nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord.
These nerve fibers are wrapped in a sheath of fatty tissue called myelin, which acts as a protective blanket, like insulation around an electrical wire. The myelin sheath enables electrical impulses to flow along a nerve with speed and accuracy.
This protective sheath is produced and maintained by highly specialized cells called oligodendrocytes. When these cells are damaged by MS, however, the myelin sheath degenerates and nerve impulses slow down or stop. Damage to the sheath can cause the underlying nerve fiber to die.
In the journal Brain, a team based at the University of Chicago show that treating mice suffering from a mouse model of MS with Sephin1 (selective inhibitor of a holophosphatase) was able to “delay the loss of myelin and postpone the onset of debilitating disease,” according to senior study author Brian Popko, PhD, the Jack Miller Professor of Neurological Disorders and Director of the Center for Peripheral Neuropathy at the University of Chicago.
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