Simple sugar possible therapy for repairing myelin in multiple sclerosis


Date:
October 7, 2020
Source:
University of California - Irvine
Summary:
N-acetylglucosamine, a simple sugar found in human breast milk
and sold as an over-the-counter dietary supplement in the United
States, promotes myelin repair in mouse models and correlates with
myelination levels in multiple sclerosis patients according to a
new study.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== N-acetylglucosamine, a simple sugar found in human breast milk and sold
as an over-the-counter dietary supplement in the United States, promotes
myelin repair in mouse models and correlates with myelination levels in multiple sclerosis patients according to a new University of California, Irvine-led study.


========================================================================== Published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the study also
demonstrates that in mice, delivering N-acetylglucosamine orally
to lactating mothers drove primary myelination in their nursing
offspring. N-acetylglucosamine is a simple sugar that is metabolically
attached to proteins at the cell surface to control cellular function.

"We found that N-acetylglucosamine activates myelin stem cells to promote primary myelination and myelin repair," said Michael Demetriou, MD, PhD,
FRCP (C), professor of neurology, microbiology and molecular genetics
at UCI School of Medicine and leader of the study. "Our data raises the intriguing possibility that N-acetylglucosamine may be a simple therapy
to promote myelin repair in multiple sclerosis patients." Formal human
studies will be required to test this theory.

The failure of robust re-myelination following inflammatory
demyelination in multiple sclerosis leads to chronic disability and neurodegeneration. Myelin insulates the long, cable-like nerve cell
branches called axons, and serves to increase the speed of electrical
signal conduction between neurons. Myelination in the central nervous
system also plays an important role in cognitive development during
childhood.

"Interestingly, since N-acetylglucosamine is a major component of human
breast milk but not baby formula, it may explain some of the cognitive
function and myelination benefits realized by children fed breast milk
as opposed to formula." said Michael Sy, MD, PhD, assistant professor
of neurology at UCI School of Medicine, co-director of the regional
MS program at the VA Long Beach Healthcare System, and first author of
the study.

Dr. med. Alexander Brandt, MD, who led the clinical parts of the study
together with Dr. med. Friedemann Paul, MD, added, "The association of
reduced N- acetylglucosamine serum levels with white matter changes in the brain of patients with multiple sclerosis suggests that N-acetyglucosamine deficiency may contribute to disease severity."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_California_-_Irvine. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Michael Sy, Alexander U. Brandt, Sung-Uk Lee, Barbara L. Newton,
Judy
Pawling, Autreen Golzar, Anas A. Rahman, Zhaoxia Yu, Graham
Cooper, Michael Scheel, Friedemann Paul, James W Dennis, Michael
Demetriou. N- Acetylglucosamine drives myelination by triggering
oligodendrocyte precursor cell differentiation. Journal
of Biological Chemistry, 2020; jbc.RA120.015595 DOI:
10.1074/jbc.RA120.015595 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201007145416.htm

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