Published date: 06 Jan 2012 at 5:18PM
Researchers from the MS Society’s Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair have found it may be possible to reverse the ageing process in the central nervous system for people with MS.
The study used animal models to explore remyelination , the process where damaged nerve sheaths are restored. As people with MS age, remyelination decreases significantly, resulting in more nerve fibres being permanently lost.
By exposing older adult mice to cells from young mice, researchers found that this decline in remyelination could be reversed.
Dr Doug Brown, Head of Biomedical Research at the MS Society said: “Professor Franklin and his team have made significant breakthroughs in recent years and this provides more encouraging progress in their tireless effort to develop therapies that might stop or reverse the devastating effects of MS.”
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