Treating a mouse model of multiple sclerosis with the pregnancy hormone estriol reversed the breakdown of myelin within the brain’s cortex, a key region affected in multiple sclerosis, in accordance with a recent UCLA Health study.

Background

In multiple sclerosis, inflammation spurs the immune system to strip away the protective myelin coating around nerve fibers within the brain’s cortex, hampering electrical signals sent and received by the brain. Atrophy of the cortex in MS patients is related to everlasting worsening of disability, corresponding to cognitive decline, visual impairment, weakness and sensory loss.

No currently available treatments for MS can repair damage to myelin. As a substitute, these treatments goal inflammation to scale back symptom flare-ups and recent nerve tissue scarring. Previous UCLA-led research found that estriol, a kind of estrogen hormone produced in pregnancy, reduced brain atrophy and improved cognitive function in MS patients.

Findings

In the brand new study, researchers treated a mouse model of MS with estriol and located that it prevented brain atrophy and induced remyelination within the cortex, indicating that the treatment can repair damage brought on by MS, reasonably than simply slow the destruction of myelin.

Impact

That is the primary study to discover a treatment that would repair myelin within the cortex, undoing a number of the damage brought on by MS.

Allan MacKenzie-Graham, an associate professor of neurology, is the study’s corresponding creator. Other authors include Cassandra Meyer, Andrew Smith, Aitana A. Padilla-Requerey, Vista Farkhondeh, Noriko Itoh, Yuichiro Itoh, Josephine Gao, Patrick Herbig, Quynhanh Nguyen, Katelyn Ngo, Mandavi Oberoi, Prabha Siddarth and Rhonda R. Voskuhl, all of UCLA.

Source:

University of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences

Journal reference:

Meyer, C. E., et al. (2023). Neuroprotection in cerebral cortex induced by the pregnancy hormone estriol. Laboratory Investigation. doi.org/10.1016/j.labinv.2023.100189.