Glowing Zebrafish: Making New Myelin!
One the critical needs is a medication to repair myelin. The process of making new myelin is called remyelination. Researchers in Korea have worked on genetically-engineered zebrafish to develop a way to study remyelination for multiple sclerosis. In this fish model, exposure to the common antibiotic metronidazole (Flagyl) causes loss of the myelin-making cells (oligodendrocytes) and demyelination within 2 days. However, removal of the antibiotic allows for “efficient” remyelination within 7 days. Using a fluorescent protein, mCherry, active remyelination and demyelination can actually be visualized glowing in the living zebrafish. This cool fish model could be important to quickly test treatments for myelin repair.
BY: Barry Singer, MD DATE: June 30, 2013 TOPIC: MS Research News