Grant: Operating Grant

Multiple sclerosis, stroke and spinal cord injury are common and devastating human disorders. The central nervous system is composed of two different types of tissue: gray matter, which comprises the nerve cell bodies, and white matter, which represents the nerve fibers connecting nerve cells to each other. Nerve fibers in the brains of mammals are highly specialized, being very thin (to pack millions of fibers into a small volume) and wrapped by an insulating fatty material called myelin to prevent short circuits. How this all-important myelin is damaged in human neurological disorders, and how the nerve fiber tells the myelin to start wrapping and insulating it, remain mysteries. This project will focus on chemical communication between axons (nerve fibers) and their myelin sheaths. We proposed that, just like nerve cells communicate with each other using chemical neurotransmitters, so do axons talk to their myelin sheaths to promote the development and continued health of this vital insulating material. A breakdown of this communication may underlie divers diseases such as MS, cerebral palsy and even psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia.