http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Scientists have identified an influential link in a chain of events that leads to autoimmune inflammation of the central nervous system in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-key-protein-central-nervous-inflammation.html Medical research Thu, 02 May 2013 09:41:12 EST news286706459 Today, during the 81st American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Annual Scientific Meeting, researchers announced new findings regarding the development of methods to turn human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) into microglia, which could be used for not only research but potentially in treatments for various diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-microglia-derived-patient-specific-human-induced-pluripotent.html Medical research Thu, 02 May 2013 07:30:02 EST news286697361 The plaque deposits in the brain of Alzheimer's patients are surrounded by the brain's own immune cells, the microglia. This was already recognized by Alois Alzheimer more than one hundred years ago. But until today it still remains unclear what role microglia play in Alzheimer's disease. Do they help to break down the plaque deposit? A study by researchers of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin has now shed light on these mysterious microglia during the progression of Alzheimer's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-brain-immune-cells-alzheimer-disease.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:41:19 EST news284899271 Long term treatment by carmustine, a chemical relative of mustard gas and already used to treat some types of brain cancer, can decrease the amount of amyloid β and number of amyloid plaques in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. The research is published in Biomed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-carmustine-decreases-amyloid-beta-plaques.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:00:01 EST news283456329 Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., and the Mossakowski Medical Research Centre in Warsaw, Poland, have found that nonself-donated cells (allografts) better survive implantation into the brains of immunocompetent research mice when the grafts are injected into the striatum (STR) of the brain rather than injected into the forceps minor (FM) region. In their study, all FM grafts were rejected while STR grafts accumulated and survived along the border between the striatum and the corpus callosum. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-impact-stem-cell-transplantation-brain.html Medical research Wed, 13 Feb 2013 17:03:35 EST news279997400 When different types of cells are transplanted with the intent of having them aid in repairing central nervous system (CNS) trauma, what is the fate and function of those cells? A Belgian research team carried out research aimed at answering this question by determining how five varieties of cells - neural stem cells, mouse embryonic fibroblasts, dendritic cells, bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNCs) and splenocytes - functioned and survived after transplantation in the CNS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-fate-function-cells-transplanted-cns.html Medical research Thu, 20 Dec 2012 17:19:57 EST news275246338 Huntington disease (HD) is an incurable neurodegenerative disease caused by a mutation in the huntingtin gene (htt). Though most of the symptoms of HD are neurological, the mutant HTT protein is expressed in non-neural cells as well. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-immune-cell-migration-impeded-huntington.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:00:06 EST news272536182 Blood-circulating immune cells can take over the essential immune surveillance of the brain, this is shown by scientists of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research in Tübingen. Their study, now published in PNAS, might indicate new ways of dealing with diseases of the nervous system. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-immune-cells-blood-dysfunctional-brain.html Medical research Mon, 22 Oct 2012 10:40:01 EST news270119780