Tampa, Fla. (Dec. 22, 2010) — In three monthly injections, researchers transplanted neurally-committed, autologous cord blood derived cells tagged with iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIO) into the lateral cerebral ventricle of a 16-month old child w…
Specialists in neuroimaging at the University at Buffalo have proposed a mechanism by which interferon beta-1a may limit brain atrophy in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The positive effect of interferon beta-1a, a standard treatment for MS, on brain atrophy is well known, but the process through which that occurs remains a mystery. UB scientists have shown that the treatment appears to limit atrophy by minimizing the toxic effect of pathologic iron deposits found in gray-matter structures of MS patients.
Cerebral atrophy is common in young persons with juvenile-onset diabetes, and there is evidence that small blood vessels within the brain’s white matter are damaged in these patients, neurologists at the University at Buffalo and the University of Western Ontario have found. Both findings, which are preliminary, may be important in understanding the development of cognitive impairment seen in older diabetics.