Statins May Spur Dementia Jul 25, 2008
Experimentation with cultures of human brain cells revealed that under the influence of statin drugs, the glial progenitor cells turned mostly into a type of cell called an oligodendrocyte. The bottom line is that statins push progenitor cells into developing into a type of cell which the brain may not need, and it may push the progenitor cells to develop prematurely when they should in fact be held in reserve in case of trauma such as a blow to the head, a stroke, or inflammation within the... (Newsmax)
Statins have unexpected effect on pool of powerful brain cells Jul 3, 2008
" The team measured the effects of two widely used statins, simvastatin and pravastatin, on glial progenitor cells, which can become either astrocytes or oligodendrocytes. The team looked at progenitor cells from 16 patients who had brain tissue removed during surgery to treat epilepsy, tumors, or vascular problems. Scientists found that both compounds, when used at doses that mimic those that patients take, spur glial progenitor cells to develop into oligodendrocytes. For example, in one... (EurekAlert!)
Brain damage link to cancer drug Apr 23, 2008
The latest study found 5-FU attacks oligodendrocyte cells in the brain and the precursor stem cells from which they originate ... The researchers showed that oligodendrocytes virtually disappeared from the brains of mice six months after the animals were treated with 5-FU.. (BBC News -- Health)
Effort To Develop Patient-specific Stem Cell Lines Launched May 16, 2007
That type of cell, an oligodendrocyte, insulates connections in the spinal cord, allowing them to conduct electricity. Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of California - Irvine. (Science Daily)
Brain's White Matter: More 'Talkative' Than Once Thought May 9, 2007
The discovery focuses on oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs), whose main role when they mature into oligodendrocytes is to wrap themselves around and insulate nerves with a whitish coat of protective myelin. The immature cells simply hang around and divide very slowly, waiting to be spurred into action. (Science Daily)
$7.9 million awarded to UCI stem cell scientists UCI, Mar. 16 Mar 17, 2007
That type of cell, an oligodendrocyte, insulates connections in the spinal cord, allowing them to conduct electricity. Donovan, professor of biological chemistry and of developmental and cell biology, was awarded $2. (University of California Newswire, CA)
Hormonal Surge During Pregnancy Repairs Faulty Brain Signaling Feb 27, 2007
The researchers found that there were twice as many oligodendrocytes (nerve cells that produce myelin) in the brains of pregnant mice and, also, that the mice continued to produce oligodendrocytes throughout their pregnancies, leading to 50 percent more myelin sheathing in their nerve cells than in those of their virgin counterparts ... The reason, say researchers: the hormone stimulates production of more oligodendrocyte stem cells, leading to more oligodendrocytes and therefore more myelin. (Scientific American)
Pregnancy Hormone Repairs MS-type Neural Damage Feb 22, 2007
Prolactin is produced in the anterior pituitary by oligodendrocytes, and is present at varying levels in both men and women ... "Thus, we hypothesized that pregnancy promotes increases in oligodendrocyte precursor cell proliferation, which bestows an enhanced capacity to generate oligodendrocytes and regenerate myelin in the maternal CNS." ... To test their hypothesis, they determined that increased oligodendrocyte and precursor cell proliferation occurs during pregnancy in mice, and then looked... (MedPage Today)
Gene That Grows Brain Also Grows Tumors Feb 16, 2007
"It turns out that the way people are starting to think about brain cancer and other solid tumors [like breast cancer and prostate cancer] in general is that they may be actually 'developmentally stalled' stem cells," says study co-author Charles Stiles, a Dana-Farber cancer biologist, "not normal stem cells, [but] mutated stemlike cells that are developmentally arrested, sort of halfway en route to making a perfectly good neuron, oligodendrocyte or whatever." Olig2 codes for a transcriptional... (Scientific American)
Antimyelin Antibodies with No Progression to Multiple Sclerosis Jan 25, 2007
To the Editor: The presence of antibodies against myelin, myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG), and myelin basic protein (MBP) in serum from patients with a clinically isolated syndrome and multiple lesions detected on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been associated with the more rapid development of a second neurologic event and conversion to clinically definite multiple sclerosis. However, there is controversy concerning this issue. (New England Journal of Medicine)
Lack of Association between Antimyelin Antibodies and Progression to Multiple Sclerosis Jan 25, 2007
An increased risk of progression to clinically definite multiple sclerosis in patients with serum antibodies against myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) and myelin basic protein (MBP) has been reported. Methods We measured serum anti-MOG and anti-MBP IgG and IgM antibodies in 462 patients with a first clinical event suggestive of multiple sclerosis and at least two clinically silent lesions on brain MRI. The patients were participating in a multicenter trial of treatment with interferon... (New England Journal of Medicine)
Glaucoma Finding: Experiments Show How Increased Pressure In Eye Leads To Blindness Dec 22, 2006
3) the activated microglia kill many of the optic nerve's oligodendrocytes (support cells that produce and maintain myelin, the insulating coating on nerve fibers). 4) retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), the nerve cells in the eye that send visual information to the brain via the optic nerve, subsequently die off, consistent with previous research establishing that oligodendrocyte loss leads to the death of RGCs ... When TNF-alpha was injected directly into the eyes of mice with normal intraocular... (Science Daily)
Common Cancer Treatments Toxic To Healthy Brain Cells Dec 3, 2006
These cells, called oligodendrocytes, are responsible for producing myelin, the fatty substance that, like insulation wrapped around a wire, covers nearly all the large nerve cells processes -- called axons -- in our bodies and helps signals in the nervous system move crisply and rapidly from one point to another. "The oligodendrocyte is an amazing cell that from its cell body supports a volume of myelin membrane that can be thousands of times the volume of the cell body," says Noble ... "Myelin... (Science Daily)
Study shows how chemo damages brain cells Dec 1, 2006
Low doses of the chemotherapy drugs killed 60 percent to 90 percent of brain cells called oligodendrocyte precursor cells and neuron precursor cells, but had little effect on most of the cancer cells. To kill 80 percent of cancer cells, doses that killed 70 percent to 100 percent of the brain cells were required. (MSNBC -- Health)
Blame Myelin For Many Neuropsychiatric Disorders Nov 27, 2006
Specifically, such cholinergic treatments may enhance oligodendrocytes, a type of glia cell in the brain that produces myelin during the brain 's development and constantly maintains and repairs it as we age ... "Through these rather benign interventions," Bartzokis said, "such effects on the brain's vulnerable oligodendrocyte populations may offer exciting opportunities for the prevention of both developmental and degenerative brain disorders. They deserve much closer scrutiny." ... -- A brain... (Science Daily)
JRRD tipsheet: Focus on multiple sclerosis Jul 11, 2006
Oligodendrocyte cell death in pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis: Protection of oligodendrocytes from apoptosis by complement, pg ... They discuss myelin-forming cells called oligodendrocytes and how death of these cells relate to the development of MS. They also review how different cells (T and B cells, macrophages, microglia) and the complement system promote demyelination of and injury to axons, which leads to oligodendrocyte death ... Sublytic activation of complement C5b-9 proteins may... (EurekAlert!)
Stem Cell Therapy Restores Walking Function to Paralyzed Rats Jun 23, 2006
In a previous study, researchers from the University of California at Irvine showed that animals with paralyzing spinal injuries had significant evidence or remyelination of spinal nerves and recovery of some locomotor function if they were treated with human embryonic stem cell-derived oligodendrocyte progenitor cells within seven days of an injury. But in the same study, animals that received the progenitor cells 10 months after an injury had no evidence of remyelination or restoration of... (MedPage Today)
Potential New Treatment Strategy For Alzheimer's Disease And Other Brain And Spinal Cord Damage May 19, 2006
In further tests, the research team discovered that the compounds can also inhibit the death of oligodendrocytes, the cells in the central nervous system that form myelin, the insulating sheath surrounding nerve cells. Normally, oligodendrocytes die when exposed to proneurotrophins - precursor forms of neurotrophins that have been implicated as agents of tissue damage in multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and Alzheimer's disease ... "The compounds were able to inhibit the processes induced... (Science Daily)
Scrutinizing a Stem Cell Trial Mar 30, 2006
WN: Will patients have to worry about immune rejection with the cells you're injecting (called oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, or OPCs). Okarma: It turns out that the differentiated cells that we make and put into animals are not recognized by the human immune system, and we published this last year. (Wired News)
Multiple Sclerosis Research Into Reparative Cells Offers New Avenue For Fighting Disease Mar 8, 2006
Myelin comes from nearby cells called oligodendrocytes, which send out projections that wrap around nerve cells ... Even though the oligodendrocytes are damaged, there exists a reservoir of oligodendrocyte precursor cell, or OPCs, left over from development that could be activated to repair the damage, he said. (Science Daily)
