Word: myelination
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...remained to produce false-positive results. Then they built their cellular bridges according to a precise blueprint that carefully distinguished between the two kinds of nerve tissue in the spinal cord--white and gray matter. White matter contains the parts of nerves that are surrounded by a substance called myelin, which acts like insulation around an electric wire. Gray matter contains the parts that have no insulating myelin. It's almost impossible to get regeneration in white matter. Growth in gray matter, on the other hand, is relatively easy to stimulate...
Weiner and one of his colleagues, Dr. David A. Hafler, found in one study that giving the protein myelin to multiple sclerosis patients decreased the chance of a relapse by 50 percent...
Multiple sclerosis is considered an autoimmune disease, caused by the biological equivalent of friendly fire. For reasons that remain vague, cells of the immune system turn their potent chemical weapons against the myelin sheath that protects nerve fibers in the spinal cord and brain. While the severity of the disease varies widely, the resulting nerve damage can cause progressive disablement that, after two decades, leaves 30% of patients in wheelchairs...
...inhibiting gamma. At the University of Chicago, Dr. Avertano Noronha and his colleagues demonstrated that beta interferon markedly decreased the activity of white blood cells obtained from multiple sclerosis patients. Beta interferon, they found, not only restrained the proliferation of these cells, it also shut down their production of myelin-destroying compounds...
...thought to be an autoimmune disease, in which the body mistakenly attacks its own tissues -- in this case myelin, which insulates nerve cells. The researchers desensitized 15 patients to myelin by feeding them myelin from cows. After a year, the group had suffered fewer MS attacks than 15 others who did not receive the treatment. The question is, Did the ingested myelin train immune systems to tolerate the substance -- the technique works in rats -- or was it just a coincidence? The frustrating answer: More study is needed...