Making the most of your brain

Questions about the causes of multiple sclerosis have occupied the minds of doctors and scientists for more than 150 years. Yet the key to this disease could lie within the brains of people with MS themselves.

Using modern technologies, researchers are looking deep into the brains of deceased MS patients to discover how new MS lesions are formed. Examination of newly formed lesions of MS patients who died during or shortly after the onset of an acute relapse has had vital results. Researchers have found that oligodendrocytes - the cells forming the insulating myelin sheath around neurons - appear to be dying before large numbers of inflammatory cells are present (1).

This suggests that macrophages, seen to be ingesting myelin in MS lesions, are actually removing the debris of already dead oligodendrocytes instead of as was previously thought - destroying healthy myelin. Subsequent inflammation from the recruitment of additional immune cells to help in the clean-up then amplifies the demyelination process and causes further tissue damage.

This new finding challenges traditional MS autoimmune theory and could explain why current anti-inflammatory therapies only relieve symptoms early in the disease and don’t protect against progress to later stages of MS (for which there is no known treatment).

There is, however, clear evidence of tissue repair and remyelination. Researchers are now investigating why some people’s nerve tissues naturally heal better than others’ - with hopes of discovering restorative treatments to promote cell regeneration and reverse tissue damage.

Since MS brain biopsies are rare, researchers rely on the foresight of MS patients and their families to donate post-mortem tissue to the MSRA Brain Bank. During the past three years, more than 650 people have signed as brain donors for MS research.

You can make the most of your brain by calling 1300 672 265 or click here to request a brain donor information pack. There is no age limit and the bank welcomes registration by patients with all subtypes of MS and at any disease stage. Your contribution will be truly appreciated by all who seek a cure for MS.

(1) Henderson, A., Barnett, M., Parratt, J., Prineas, J. Multiple sclerosis: Distribution of inflammatory cells in newly forming lesions. Annals of neurology. 2009; 66:739-53.