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I came back to post this to find Bromley's thread is locked. But as an act of faith in the better aspects of human nature, I just wanted to provide a link to the original research article on which the BBC story in Ian's post was based. I hope the link works...

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vao ... .2702.html

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the question should be why did demyelination happen in the first place? maybe some pathogen ( e.g lyme) is eating collagen (which the myelin sheath is made of..)... Also, would remyelination prevent another demyelination process?... hum not sure... just like the liberation procedure in the CCSVI does not prevent restenosis...

LOLOLLLL now that is real old school TIMS, lyon

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Ian--good to see you posting and hope you're doing well. Sorry the thread was locked but glad Dignan started it again.

Welcome back to old times. Some things don't change.

Hormones are still looking good for myelination/remyelination. A few more recent tidbits.

17beta-estradiol and progesterone prevent cuprizone provoked demyelination of corpus callosum in male mice

These data show that sex steroids can protect the brain from demyelination and stimulate remyelination..... The positive hormonal influence on myelination in the CNS may be a future therapeutically strategy for the treatment of MS.

Oestrogen receptor beta ligand: a novel treatment to enhance endogenous functional remyelination

These findings show a direct neuroprotective effect of oestrogen receptor β ligand treatment on oligodendrocyte differentiation, myelination and axon conduction during experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Previously my focus had been just on progesterone and myelination, but now estrogen has come into the picture too.

Quoting from the BBC article Ian posted:

Around 85% have the relapsing/remitting form of the condition, in which "flare-ups" which cause disability, are followed by a recovery of a level of the lost physical function.

In this form of MS, there does appear to be some natural myelin repair

I still wonder why there's not been a focus on declining hormone levels with age and whether or not those declining hormone levels contribute to the failure to remyelinate as time and MS march on. I still think it's entirely possible that's a major factor in our eventual apparent inability to remyelinate.

Of course, we do have to stop the demyelination process (and some others IMO) too......

Take care and all the best.

Sharon

I was worried you had found a study linking myelin repair with being nice. Whew, I can safely carry on being a jerk!

Bob, I'm lighting some candles in my snow cave right now.

Jimmy, I'm sending the dog sled by to pick you up.

Sharon, do you think DHEA has any potential?

Rainer, don't worry, the rest of us can keep being jerks, I was just talking to big meanie Bob.

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LOL!!! do i hear barking?

JL

No doubt in my mind that you hear barking. Hopefully the sled is there.

Dignan

I don't think much has been happening with DHEA. I still think everyone should have hormone levels checked and strive to be in the normal range all the way around. I, for example, had zero progesterone.

On the DHEA front, I'd thought it might blossom for spinal cord injury repair, per this Treatments for spinal cord injury: is there hope in neurosteroids?, but I don't find anything more recent.

This remains a good source of info (open access article) that discusses DHEA Endogenous neuroprotective factors: neurosteroids

In terms of current theories about MS, there's this:

DHEA-neuroprotection and -neurotoxicity after transient cerebral ischemia in rats

These results show that DHEA not only provides robust ischemic neuroprotection with a long therapeutic opportunity but also exerts neurotoxicity when administered during ischemia and early reperfusion, which points to the importance of administration timing of DHEA in the clinical treatment of brain damages by the transient brain ischemia including stroke.

Sorry not to be too helpful but so happy you sent the sled.

Sharon

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Shame retinoic acid doesn't cross the BBB.. Could we have repeated the experiment by taking it as a supplement if it did? Is 9-cis retinoic acid significantly different from that available as a supplement. Ten to fifteen years seems like an awfully long wait.. I don't know that I have the time to spare.