Potential New Treatments For Multiple Sclerosis Using New Nanoscale Imaging

May 24, 2011


Laboratory studies by chemical engineers at UC Santa Barbara may lead to new experimental methods for early detection and diagnosis – and to possible treatments – for pathological tissues that are precursors to multiple sclerosis and similar diseases. 

Achieving a new method of nanoscopic imaging, the scientific team studied the myelin sheath, the membrane surrounding nerves that is compromised in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The study is published in this week’s online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). 

“Myelin membranes are a class of biological membranes that are only two molecules thick, less than one millionth of a millimeter,” said Jacob Israelachvili, one of the senior authors and professor of chemical engineering and of materials at UCSB. “The membranes wrap around the nerve axons to form the myelin sheath.” 

He explained that the way different parts of the central nervous system, including the brain, communicate with each other throughout the body is via the transmission of electric impulses, or signals, along the fibrous myelin sheaths. The sheaths act like electric cables or transmission lines. 


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