Critical Knowledge About The Nervous System Uncovered By Rutgers Scientists

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Critical Knowledge About The Nervous System Uncovered By Rutgers

Scientists

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/87978.php

Uncover the neural communication links involved in myelination, the

process of protecting a nerve's axon, and it may become possible to

reverse the breakdown of the nervous system's electrical

transmissions in such disorders as multiple sclerosis, spinal cord

injuries, diabetes and cancers of the nervous system.

With $697,065 in grants from the New Jersey Commission on Spinal

Cord Injury and the New Jersey Commission on Brain Injury Research,

Haesun Kim of Teaneck, NJ, assistant professor of biological

sciences at Rutgers University in Newark, is working on gaining a

better understanding of those links.

Specifically, her work focuses on Schwann cells within the

peripheral nervous system and their communication links with the

axons they myelinate by enwrapping them in myelin. Axons are the

long fibrous part of neurons that carry the nerve's electrical

signals. A fatty substance, myelin covers those axons both to

protect them and to provide a conduit for the fast conduction of

electrical signals within the nervous system. Once that myelin is

lost,the electrical signal breaks down and eventually the neuron

dies -- like a cell phone that loses its signal.

Determining how Schwann cells and axons communicate with one another

could lead to an understanding of how to promote remyelination, the

rebuilding of myelin, and restoration of that signal. One unique

aspect of the communication link between Schwann cells and axons is

that they are mutually dependent upon that connection for their

existence.

" When Schwann cells are generated during development, axons send out

signals to the Schwann cells and tell them, 'You are going to become

myelin cells and you are going to myelinate me,' " explains Kim. " The

Schwann cells in turn guide the axons to where they need to go and

direct the axons to grow. "

By pinpointing the sequence and nuances of the communication links

involved in myelination, targeted genetic and pharmacological

interventions possibly could be developed to restore the loss of

myelin. Such an understanding additionally may allow for the

effective transplanting of Schwann cells in the central nervous

system to promote remyelination and the correction of neurological

disorders at that level.