Functional implications of focal white matter lesions on neuronal circuits

局灶性白质病变对神经元回路的功能影响

• 批准号: MR/Y014537/1
• 负责人: Ragnhildur Karadottir
• 金额: $ 326.72万
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FY014537%2F1
• 关键词: Functional; implications; focal; white; matter

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurodegenerative disorders like dementia, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's disease have a large impact on people's lives and society. There are no fully effective treatments available to stop these diseases from progressing.The human brain is divided into two equal halves: grey and white matter. Most of the research on neurodegenerative disorders has focused on the grey matter of the brain, which contains the neurons, but has overlooked the role of the white matter. New research is showing that lesions within the brain's white matter occur in neurodegenerative disorders. The number of these lesions is linked to problems with thinking and movement. Importantly, these lesions can appear before people experience any symptoms, indicating that these lesions may have a role to play in the disease progression.MS is characterised by white matter lesions in the brain, and from MS research we know that white matter lesions can be repaired, which allows for full symptomatic recovery. This is because in our brain we have specialised stem cells that can repair white matter lesions. Although white matter lesions can be repaired in MS, this regeneration process eventually fails, more so as we age. The failure of repairing white matter lesions can lead the loss of neurons (neurodegeneration), ongoing brain inflammation, and disability.Inflammation in the brain, which is a low-level and ongoing process, is common in both neurodegenerative conditions and MS. Our early results from animal studies suggest that repairing white matter lesions reduces inflammation in both the grey and white matter of the brain. It seems that the failure to repair white matter lesions properly may be causing the ongoing brain inflammation. Our data show that inflammation in the brain and changes in neurons are necessary to trigger white matter repair. This suggests that we need to understand how inflammation, neurons, and white matter lesions interact in order to develop effective treatments, as targeting only one part, like the grey matter or the immune system, may not be enough to prevent further damage.Our research aims to fill this knowledge gap by studying how white matter lesions affect brain function, grey matter inflammation and how repair of white matter lesions is regulated. We hope to learn more about neurodegenerative diseases and whether repairing white matter lesions can reduce brain inflammation, which may be causing the loss of neurons. This research could lead to the development of new treatments that focus on repairing the brain's white matter to preserve brain function. Ultimately, our goal is to reduce the burden of these diseases on individuals, families, and society as a whole.

多发性硬化症（MS）和其他神经退行性疾病，例如痴呆症，阿尔茨海默氏病和帕金森氏病，对人们的生活和社会产生了很大的影响。没有完全有效的治疗方法可以阻止这些疾病的进展。人脑分为两半：灰质和白质。关于神经退行性疾病的大多数研究都集中在包含神经元的大脑的灰质上，但忽略了白质的作用。新的研究表明，大脑白质中的病变发生在神经退行性疾病中。这些病变的数量与思维和运动问题有关。重要的是，这些病变可以在人们经历任何症状之前出现，表明这些病变可能在疾病进展中起作用。MM的特征是大脑中的白质病变，并且从MS研究中，我们知道可以修复白质病变，从而可以完全症状地康复。这是因为在我们的大脑中，我们有可以修复白质病变的专门干细胞。尽管可以在MS中修复白质病变，但这种再生过程最终会失败，随着年龄的增长。修复白质病变的失败会导致神经元的丧失（神经退行性），持续的脑部炎症和残疾。在神经退行性疾病和MS中，大脑中的炎症是一个低水平和持续的过程。我们来自动物研究的早期结果表明，修复白质病变会减少大脑灰质和白质的炎症。似乎无法正确修复白质病变可能会导致持续的脑部炎症。我们的数据表明，大脑的炎症和神经元的变化对于触发白质修复是必要的。这表明我们需要了解炎症，神经元和白质病变是如何相互作用的，以开发有效的治疗方法，因为仅针对一个部分，例如灰质或免疫系统，可能不足以防止进一步的损害。我们的研究目的是通过研究白质性疾病的脑功能，灰质的炎症，灰质的炎症，以及如何修复白质的人物来填补这一知识差距。我们希望更多地了解神经退行性疾病以及修复白质病变是否可以减少脑部炎症，这可能导致神经元的丧失。这项研究可能导致新疗法的发展，这些疗法专注于修复大脑的白质以保持大脑功能。最终，我们的目标是减轻这些疾病对个人，家庭和整个社会的负担。