Scientists use mice with type 1 diabetes that actually develop MS; breakthrough could lead to better treatments
All laboratory research on multiple sclerosis have been conducted until now using experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) as mouse model, even though it is not the same as MS. Mice with EAE – a scientific model first created in the 1920s – are raised by injecting the rodents with protein from myelin – the insulating material on the nerves that breaks down and in humans causes the disease. The myelin is then mixed with bacteria.The mouse’s immune system attacks the myelin and produces an autoimmune-like response, which causes the disease in humans, but as bacteria are not involved in the debilitating neurological disease MS, it is not the same mechanism.
But now, Tel Aviv University researchers have discovered a better model – mice with type 1 diabetes that actually develop MS and can thus be used to test the mechanisms and potential treatments. The researchers hope this breakthrough could lead eventually to the development of better treatments and maybe one day a cure. The research was recently published in Experimental Neurology.In people, the “shorting” of electrical signals inhibits their transfer between neurons, often leading to devastating disabilities such as blindness and paralysis. Active periods of MS last for anywhere between a few minutes to weeks. These attacks are caused by lesions in the brain that develop, partly recover and then recur. The more attacks there are, the greater the risk of permanent disability.
Israeli scientists are among the prime developers of medications such as Copaxone that shorten attacks and reduce their intensity. But research into a potential cure has often been stymied by the lack of a genuine animal model for the human disease. MS does not present in this model as it does in human sufferers – most mouse models experience a single inflammatory peak that leaves them with permanentsymptoms such muscle paralysis. But the damage can be detected in the spinal cord, not in the brain.
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