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，如痴呆症、阿尔茨海默氏症和帕金森氏症，对人们的生活和社会产生了巨大的影响。目前还没有完全有效的治疗方法来阻止这些疾病的发展。人类的大脑被分成两半：灰质和白质。大多数关于神经退行性疾病的研究都集中在包含神经元的大脑灰质上，而忽视了白质的作用。新的研究表明，大脑白质内的损伤发生在神经退行性疾病中。这些病变的数量与思维和运动方面的问题有关。重要的是，这些损害可以在人们出现任何症状之前就出现，这表明这些损害可能在疾病的发展中发挥作用。多发性硬化症的特点是大脑中的白质损害，从多发性硬化症的研究我们知道，白质损害可以修复，这允许完全症状恢复。这是因为在我们的大脑中，我们有专门的干细胞可以修复脑白质损伤。虽然白质损伤可以在多发性硬化症中修复，但这种再生过程最终会失败，随着我们年龄的增长，这种情况会更严重。白质损伤修复失败会导致神经元丧失(神经变性)、持续的脑炎症和残疾。大脑中的炎症是一个低水平的持续过程，在神经退行性疾病和多发性硬化中都很常见。我们来自动物的早期研究结果表明，修复白质损伤可以减少大脑灰质和白质的炎症。似乎未能妥善修复脑白质损伤可能是导致持续的脑部炎症的原因。我们的数据显示，大脑中的炎症和神经元的变化是触发脑白质修复所必需的。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，因为只针对一个部分，如灰质或免疫系统，可能不足以防止进一步的损害。我们的研究旨在通过研究白质病变如何影响脑功能、灰质炎症以及白质病变的修复如何受到调控来填补这一知识空白。我们希望了解更多关于神经退行性疾病的知识，以及修复白质损伤是否可以减少脑部炎症，这可能会导致神经元的损失。这项研究可能会导致开发新的治疗方法，专注于修复大脑的白质，以保护大脑功能。最终，我们的目标是减轻这些疾病给个人、家庭和整个社会带来的负担。