sheath in Biological News

MS study offers theory for why repair of brain's wiring fails

... oligodendrocytes, ultimately damaging the myelin sheath to the point that the electrical signals ... fresh, immature oligodendrocytes to the myelin sheath to repair the damage, for a time. This explains ... and the formation of a new myelin sheath -- they measured the activity of 1,040 genes. All ...

Tumor-targeting viral therapy slows neuroblastoma, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors

... tumor cancers neuroblastoma and peripheral nerve sheath tumors without harming healthy tissues by ... to develop neuroblastoma or peripheral nerve sheath tumors, rQT3 reduced new blood vessel development ... neuroblastoma. Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors are cancers affecting the connective ...

Jet-propelled imaging for an ultrafast light source

... nozzle" that could shrink the diameter of the liquid jet to a thread so small it would not clog the physical aperture of the tube. In effect, the gas sheath acts to focus the liquid stream. Spence and his colleagues needed a true microthread of liquid, however, one that produced droplets sized a ...

Fate in fly sensory organ precursor cells could explain human immune disorder

... on to become the shaft and socket cells on the exterior of the fly's external sensory organ. The pIIb, through two divisions, become the neuron and sheath internal cells of the external sensory organ. These four types of cells become the sensory cluster. When a cluster of neurons is observed, cell ...

One size does not fit all

... 1,000 new cases diagnosed each year. MS is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS), in which immune cells attack the myelin sheath (the protective insulation of nerve fibres), and the myelin-producing cells of the CNS (oligodendrocytes), causing demyelination. This causes damage ...

Human ES cells progress slowly in myelin's direction

... the researchers made are called oligodendrocytes, which are responsible for making myelin in the central nervous system. Myelin forms an insulating sheath that surrounds nerve fibres, both protecting them and speeding up the transmission of nerve impulses. Its loss or damage has serious consequences, as ...

Genetic study shows direct link between vitamin D and MS susceptibility 'gene'

... in the UK and 2.5 million worldwide are thought to suffer from the condition, which results from the loss of nerve fibres and their protective myelin sheath in the brain and spinal cord, causing neurological damage. The causes of MS are unclear, but it has become evident that both environmental and ...

Claudin 11 stops the leaks in neuronal myelin sheaths

... Devaux and Gow demonstrate how a tight junction protein called claudin 11 makes the neuronal myelin sheath a snug fit. The study will be published in the December 1, 2008 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology ( www.jcb.org ). Like the rubber coating on ...

Intraspinal implant of mesenchymal stem cells may not heal the demyelinated spinal cord

... Tampa, Fla. (Nov. 12, 2008) Multiple sclerosis is a disease caused by the loss of the myelinated sheath surrounding the nerve fibers of the spinal cord. Therapeutic hope for curing multiple sclerosis and other demyelinating diseases has included the ...

Top biophysics award to Professor Ray Norton

... assist in the treatment of multiple sclerosis one key characteristic of this disease being the errant immune system's destruction of the myelin sheath that protects nerve channels. In addition to honouring his pioneering research, the Bob Robertson Award acknowledges Professor Norton's services ...

Taking the next step toward advanced artificial limbs

... extend from neurons and carry electrical impulses across the nervous system. Bundles of axons form nerves. Fully developed axons are covered with a sheath of myelin, a fatty-like substance that insulates the axons and helps them work efficiently, much like the rubber or plastic coating that insulates ...

Laminin builds the neuromuscular synapse

... molecule in the synapse sculpts both sides. Their chief suspect was the synapse-spanning protein laminin. Made by muscle and forming part of the sheath that covers muscle, the laminin protein has different domains called alpha, beta, and gamma chains. Previous work had shown that the beta2 chain of ...

When threatened, a few African frogs can morph toes into claws

... from the nodule and bursts through the skin." This claw-like structure is no conventional claw, though: It is pure bone, free of the keratin sheath that normally surrounds vertebrate claws. And unlike a claw that retracts into a specialized structure in an animal's foot, as in cats, the site ...

September Geology and GSA Today media highlights

... perform a series of biochemical gymnastics to utilize HCO3- in this process. As a byproduct of these biochemical changes, the pH of the microbial sheath rises dramatically and induces the precipitation of calcium carbonate minerals. Identification of these calcified sheaths in the geologic record thus ...

Scientists discover the molecular switch for nerve cells' insulating jelly rolls

... nerve cells that send messages to other cells. The construction of myelin sheath has been called one of the most beautiful examples of cell specialization ... that it was implicated in determining the thickness of the myelin sheath around axons; however, until now it wasn't clear whether the gene also ...

Dendritic cells offer new therapeutic target for drugs to treat MS and other autoimmune disease

... sclerosis, a disease that causes T-cells to destroy the myelin protein sheath around nerves in the central nervous system. The drug had a similar effect ... to die. In the mouse model, investigators found that more of the myelin sheath was preserved in mice treated with CEP-701 than those not treated. ...

Researchers discover gene crucial for nerve cell insulation

... one of the most common genetically inherited disorders, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which causes progressive muscle weakening. The myelin sheath that surrounds a nerve cell is analogous to the insulating material that coats an electrical cord or wire, keeping nerve impulses from dissipating, ...

Inhibiting blood to save the brain

... function. The disease is marked by loss of myelin, a material that coats nerve fibers. Past studies showed that the destruction of the myelin sheath is associated with the accumulation of fibrinogen deposits in the brain of human MS patients. In this study, Akassoglou and colleagues showed that ...

Scientists crack rhino horn riddle

... role those materials play in the development of the horn's characteristic shape. The horns of most animals have a bony core covered by a thin sheath of keratin, the same substance as hair and nails. Rhino horns are unique, however, because they are composed entirely of keratin. Scientists had been ...

Biotechnology's newest chemical tool

... Taking inspiration from the real hand, where a muscle pulls a tendon inside a synovial sheath, CYBERHAND's finger cables run through a Teflon sheath pulled by a DC motor. So the proximal, medial and distal phalanges, those bones between your finger knuckles, are all driven by the same tendon. This ...

Molecular Partners Required For Appropriate Neuronal Gene Repression

... in the August edition of the scientific journal Nature Medicine. "For many years, scientists have understood that damage to the insulation-like sheath surrounding nerve cells in the brain, called myelin, is part of the disease process for MS and other brain disorders," said Larry Sherman, Ph.D., an ...

OHSU researchers discover potential mechanism to repair brain damage linked to Multiple Sclerosis

... in the August edition of the scientific journal Nature Medicine. "For many years, scientists have understood that damage to the insulation-like sheath surrounding nerve cells in the brain, called myelin, is part of the disease process for MS and other brain disorders," said Larry Sherman, Ph.D., an ...

Neurologix announces positive results of gene therapy clinical trial in Parkinson's disease

... firing pattern was obtained confirming that the electrode was in the STN, the fine-wire electrode was removed, leaving only the microelectrode sheath through which a hair-thin (165 micron) hollow tube was inserted. Thirty-five microliters containing 3.5, 10 or 35 billion particles (depending upon ...

Investigating 'brain shrinkage' in alcoholics

... In addition, the content of these proteins in the white matter was reduced. These changes likely alter the structure and function of the myelin sheath and ultimately the conduction of nerve impulses." - It is important for people who abuse alcohol to realize that some of the damage can be ...

Infants with Rare Genetic Disease Saved By Cord Blood Stem Cells

... first to demonstrate a life-saving treatment for newborns with Krabbe Disease, in which children are missing an enzyme critical to forming the myelin sheath that protects developing brain cells from damage. Moreover, the findings add to the growing body of evidence showing that cord blood can save ...

Infants With Rare Genetic Disease Saved by Cord Blood Stem Cells

... first to demonstrate a life-saving treatment for newborns with Krabbe Disease, in which children are missing an enzyme critical to forming the myelin sheath that protects developing brain cells from damage. Moreover, the findings add to the growing body of evidence showing that cord blood can save ...

New component of the 'brakes' on nerve regeneration found

... molecules in myelin. Specifically, these molecules prevent the growth of the cablelike axons of injured neurons. Myelin is the fatty sheath that encases neurons and acts as an insulator and aid to the transmission of nerve impulses. Researchers knew that CNS neurons had receptors on ...

Family trees of ancient bacteria reveal evolutionary moves

... than earlier groups ?at least 2.5 microns. Blank's tree shows that several morphological traits arose independently in multiple lines, among them a sheath structure, filamentous growth, the ability to fix nitrogen, thermophily (love of heat), motility and the use of sulfide as an electron donor. "We ...