New CNS neurons and glia are generated throughout adulthood from endogenous neural stem and progenitor cells. These progenitors can respond to injury, but their ability to proliferate, migrate, differentiate, and survive is usually insufficient to replace lost cells and restore normal function. Potentiating the progenitor response with exogenous factors is an attractive strategy for the treatme...

Fibronectin (FN), a large family of plasma and extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoproteins, plays an important role in leukocyte migration. In normal central nervous system (CNS), a fine and delicate mesh of FN is virtually restricted to the basal membrane of cerebral blood vessels and to the glial limitans externa. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an inflammatory CNS demyelinating...

Schwann cell (SC) transplantation is currently being discussed as a strategy that may promote functional recovery in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). However this assumes they will not only survive but also remyelinate demyelinated axons in the chronically inflamed CNS. To address this question we investigat...

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating disorder in which remyelination failure contributes to persistent disability. Cholesterol is rate-limiting for myelin biogenesis in the developing CNS; however, whether cholesterol insufficiency contributes to remyelination failure in MS, is unclear. Here, we show the relationship between cholesterol, myelination and neurological paramete...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic demyelinating disease of the human central nervous system (CNS). The condition predominantly affects young adults and is characterised by immunological and inflammatory changes in the periphery and CNS that contribute to neurovascular disruption, haemopoietic cell invasion of target tissues, and demyelination of nerve fibres which culminate in neurological d...

Multiple sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by episodes of autoimmune attack of oligodendrocytes leading to demyelination and progressive functional deficits. Because many patients exhibit functional recovery in between demyelinating episodes, understanding mechanisms responsible for repair of damaged myelin is critical for developing therapies that promote remyelination and...

Background: Multiple sclerosis and other demyelinating processes are sometimes difficult to differentiate from the neurological involvement in autoimmune diseases. Distinguishing multiple sclerosis from other lesions due to autoimmune diseases is crucial to avoid unsuitable or delayed treatments. Methods: Charts of 6 patients diagnosed with mimicking multiple sclerosis between 1996 and 2014 we...

Although the central nervous system (CNS) is separated from the immune system by bloodbrain barrier and traditionally considered “immune priviledged”, our immune cells are capable of targeting the brain, leading to the development of CNS autoimmune disorders. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one such autoimmune disorder of the CNS in which myelin components are particularly targeted by the immune sys...

Polymicrobial infections have been associated with plausible immune mediated diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS). Virus infection can prime autoimmune T cells specific for central nervous system (CNS) antigens, if virus has molecular mimicry with CNS proteins. On the other hand, infection of irrelevant viruses will induce two types of cytokine responses. Infection with a virus such as l...