Nerve repair can be accelerated
A new method of restoring the myelin sheath of nerves has been discovered
Anna Kerman, XX2 century, based on Medical Xpress: Scientists find RNA with special role in nerve healing process
Scientists have been able to find a new key to the process of peripheral nerve repair by discovering that when nerves are damaged, the so-called antisense RNA (AS-RNA) is expressed. Experiments on mice have demonstrated that AS-RNA regulates the repair of the myelin sheath, which, like a cable braid, covers and protects nerve fibers.
The results of the study were published in the publication Cell Reports. The work was led by Nikos Tapinos, associate professor of neurosurgery at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University. According to Tapinos, he and his colleagues managed to control the expression of AS-RNA in laboratory conditions and, as a result, learn to control the production of the Egr2 transcription factor involved in the synthesis of myelin by Schwann cells.
"Although Schwann cells are able to re-coat peripheral nerves with myelin after injury, the remyelination process is rarely complete. That is why after damage, the nerves almost always begin to function worse," says Tapinos. "Since AS–RNA suppresses the expression of Egr2, the factor controlling myelin production, it is possible that inhibiting AS-RNA itself or controlling its concentration will make the myelination process more intense."
A group of scientists studied the effects of nerve damage at the molecular level. It was then that the hypothesis appeared, according to which AS-RNA could exist in cells, controlling the expression of genes associated with the synthesis of myelin. The researchers were able not only to detect this AS-RNA, but also to reveal that its expression increases significantly after a certain time after nerve damage.
The study also demonstrated that this process leads to the inhibition of Egr2 and, thus, to the demyelination of the nerve, the gradual loss of the myelin sheath. However, later, as the new nerve grows, the expression of AS-RNA stops, which triggers the process of remyelination.
Activation of AS-RNA production (right) suppresses myelin synthesis (marked in red). On the left is the process of remyelination in mice from the control group.
As a result of the study, new ways of controlling the process of myelination may appear at the disposal of physicians. According to Tapinos, theoretically, over time, the new discovery can lead to the emergence of new therapeutic approaches that allow controlling the removal and restoration of myelin. These approaches, in turn, can be used in the treatment of nerve fiber injuries and therapy of demyelinating diseases.
Now a team of scientists led by Tapinos is investigating biopsy material from patients suffering from demyelinating diseases to find out how AS-RNA works in humans and how it can be destroyed. In the future, the researchers plan to closely address the issue of controlling the expression of AS-RNA – if scientists manage to develop an appropriate technique, then the problem of removing this substance from cells will disappear by itself.
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04.09.2017