Brain blood vessels found that may help MS (and many other) patients
Researchers have found blood vessels that connect the brain directly to the immune system. Now, they are looking at these blood vessels as possible keys in a variety of neurological diseases to include MS.
The more science learns the more science is proven previously wrong.
Now, science textbooks may have to be rewritten.
Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined that blood vessels directly connect the brain to the immune system. It's amazing that these blood vessels have never been detected before, but more importantly may be the purpose of the blood vessels. The blood vessels may prove to be a critical pathway for multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, autism and other diseases.
"Instead of asking, 'How do we study the immune response of the brain?' 'Why do multiple sclerosis patients have the immune attacks?' now we can approach this mechanistically. Because the brain is like every other tissue connected to the peripheral immune system through meningeal lymphatic vessels," said Jonathan Kipnis, PhD, professor in the UVA Department of Neuroscience and director of UVA's Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG). "It changes entirely the way we perceive the neuro-immune interaction. We always perceived it before as something esoteric that can't be studied. But now we can ask mechanistic questions."
"We believe that for every neurological disease that has an immune component to it, these vessels may play a major role," Kipnis said. "Hard to imagine that these vessels would not be involved in a [neurological] disease with an immune component."
http://www.businessinsider.com/brain...-vessel-2015-6
The more science learns the more science is proven previously wrong.
- Most of us know scientists once thought the earth was flat.
- Most of us know scientists once thought MS was painless.
Now, science textbooks may have to be rewritten.
Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined that blood vessels directly connect the brain to the immune system. It's amazing that these blood vessels have never been detected before, but more importantly may be the purpose of the blood vessels. The blood vessels may prove to be a critical pathway for multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, autism and other diseases.
"Instead of asking, 'How do we study the immune response of the brain?' 'Why do multiple sclerosis patients have the immune attacks?' now we can approach this mechanistically. Because the brain is like every other tissue connected to the peripheral immune system through meningeal lymphatic vessels," said Jonathan Kipnis, PhD, professor in the UVA Department of Neuroscience and director of UVA's Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG). "It changes entirely the way we perceive the neuro-immune interaction. We always perceived it before as something esoteric that can't be studied. But now we can ask mechanistic questions."
"We believe that for every neurological disease that has an immune component to it, these vessels may play a major role," Kipnis said. "Hard to imagine that these vessels would not be involved in a [neurological] disease with an immune component."
http://www.businessinsider.com/brain...-vessel-2015-6
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