RESEARCH
Study of Cat Diet Leads to Key Nervous System Repair Discovery
Excerpted from a story by Terry Devitt, University Communications
When a group of cats exhibited neurological problems after months of being fed an irradiated diet, veterinarians at the UW School of Veterinary Medicine wanted to take a closer look at the cause and effect.
Surprisingly, they found that even though the cats’ myelin had been depleted, the affected cats were able to regenerate this tissue and return to normal function.
Myelin is a fatty substance that forms a sheath for nerve fibers, known as axons, and facilitates the conduction of nerve signals. Its loss through disease causes impairment of sensation, movement, cognition and other functions, depending on which nerves are affected. In humans, the most common myelin-deficiency disease is multiple sclerosis.
“The fundamental point of the study is that it proves unequivocally that extensive remyelination can lead to recovery from a severe neurological disorder,” says Dr. Ian Duncan, a neuroscientist at the School of Veterinary Medicine who led the research. “It indicates the profound ability of the central nervous system to repair itself.”
The finding is important because it underscores the validity of strategies to reestablish myelin as a therapy for treating a range of severe neurological diseases associated with the loss or damage of myelin, but where the nerves themselves remain intact.
Dr. Duncan notes that the restored myelin sheaths were not as thick as healthy myelin.
“It’s not normal, but from a physiological standpoint, the thin myelin membrane restores function,” he says. “It’s doing what it is supposed to do.”
Knowing that the central nervous system retains the ability to forge new myelin sheaths anywhere the nerves themselves are preserved provides strong support for the idea that if myelin can be restored in diseases such as multiple sclerosis, it may be possible for patients to regain lost or impaired functions.
“The key thing is that it absolutely confirms the notion that remyelinating strategies are clinically important,” Dr. Duncan says.
In addition to Dr. Duncan, authors of the study include Dr. Alexandra Brower of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory; Drs. Yoichi Kondo and Ronald Schultz of the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine; and Dr. Joseph Curlee Jr. of Harlan Laboratories in Madison.
