Occasionally, hypoxia and brain damage to the newborn occur during delivery. Scientists from the USA have shown that in mice the changes can be partially undone pharmacologically. The research results are published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Occasionally, hypoxia and brain damage to the newborn occur during delivery. Scientists from the USA have shown that in mice the changes can be partially undone pharmacologically. The research results are published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Injury to the white matter of the brain, which occurs during cerebral palsy or as a result of fetal hypoxia or during childbirth, leads to the loss of the ability of oligodendrocytes – cells accompanying neurons in the brain, to become myelin-producing cells, a kind of isolation of nerve cells. A similar disorder is characteristic of adults with multiple sclerosis.
David Rowitch and colleagues at the University of California found that a protein called axin 2 is active in white matter damaged in newborns and adults with multiple sclerosis. The authors tested a drug that stabilizes the activity of axin 2 in the hypoxic brain of neonate mice and found that it was effective in improving the ability of oligodendrocytes to convert into myelin-forming cells.
The same substance successfully promoted the formation of myelin sheaths in the culture of cells isolated from mice after brain hypoxia. (PAP)