左：哈里‧阿特金斯（Harry Atkins）博士中：珍妮弗‧莫爾森 （Jennifer Molson）右：馬克‧弗里德曼（Mark S. Freedman）醫生患者珍妮弗‧莫爾森15歲時被診斷出患有多樣硬化症，之後六年病情迅速惡化。2002年，她21歲時在渥太華醫院接受免疫系統再造手術試驗。現在，這名35歲的女性滑雪、駕車、上班、生活都很好，再也沒復發多樣硬化症。不過，弗里德曼醫生表示，這種免疫系統再造的治療方法並不適合所有人。
加拿大樂活網lahoo.ca採訪了馬克‧弗里德曼（Mark S. Freedman）醫生，他們實驗的第一階段治療了24名患者，並一直持續觀察療效，進行必要的調整。期間一名患者更換免疫系統後因肝衰竭死亡，使他們意識到可能是因為新的免疫系統給肝臟帶來了過重的解毒負擔，於是他們就開始研究如何減少幹細胞培養出的免疫系統所含的毒性。弗里德曼說：「從那以後，再也沒有復發患者，也沒有一名患者需要再服用控制硬化症的藥物。70%的患者症狀完全消失。」
Sustained stress erodes memory, and the immune system plays a key
role in the cognitive impairment, according to a new study from
researchers at The Ohio State University.
The work in mice could one day lead to treatment for repeated,
long-term mental assault such as that sustained by bullying victims,
soldiers and those who report to beastly bosses, the researchers say.
"This is chronic stress. It's not just the stress of giving a talk
or meeting someone new," said lead researcher Jonathan Godbout,
associate professor of neuroscience at Ohio State.
This is the first study of its kind to establish the relationship
between short-term memory and prolonged stress. In the case of the mice,
that meant repeat visits from a larger, nasty intruder mouse.
Mice that were repeatedly exposed to the aggressive intruder had a
hard time recalling where the escape hole was in a maze they'd mastered
prior to the stressful period.
"The stressed mice didn't recall it. The mice that weren't stressed, they really remembered it," Godbout said.
They also had measurable changes in their brains, including evidence
of inflammation brought on by the immune system's response to the
outside pressure. This was associated with the presence of immune cells,
called macrophages, in the brain of the stressed mice.
The research team was able to pin the short-term memory loss on the inflammation, and on the immune system.
Their work, which appears in The Journal of Neuroscience, builds on previous research substantiating the connections between chronic stress and lasting anxiety.
The impact on memory and confirmation that the brain inflammation is
caused by the immune system are important new discoveries, Godbout
said.
"It's possible we could identify targets that we can treat pharmacologically or behaviorally," he said.
It could be that there are ways to interrupt the inflammation, said
John Sheridan, who worked on the study and is associate director of Ohio
State's Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research.
The mice used in the study are exposed to repeated social defeat -
basically dominance by an alpha mouse - that aims to mimic chronic
psychosocial stress experienced by humans.
Researchers at Ohio State seek to uncover the secrets behind stress
and cognitive and mood problems with a long-range goal of finding ways
to help those who are anxious, depressed and suffer from lasting
problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder.
This new research focused on the hippocampus, a hub of memory and emotional response.
The researchers found that the stressed mice had trouble with
spatial memory that resolved within 28 days. They found that the mice
displayed social avoidance, which measures depressive-like behavior,
that continued after four weeks of monitoring.
And they were able to measure deficits in the development of new neurons 10 days and 28 days after the prolonged stress ended.
When they gave the mice a chemical that inhibited inflammation,
neither the brain-cell problem nor the depressive symptoms went away.
But the memory loss and inflammatory macrophages did disappear.
And that led them to conclude that the post-stress memory trouble is
directly linked to inflammation - and the immune system - rather than
to other damage to the brain. That type of information can pave the way
for immune-based treatments, Godbout said.
"Stress releases immune cells from the bone marrow and those cells
can traffic to brain areas associated with neuronal activation in
response to stress," Sheridan said. "They're being called to the brain,
to the center of memory."
###
The researchers' work was supported by the National Institutes of
Health, the National Institute of Aging and the National Institute of
Dental and Craniofacial Research.
Other Ohio State researchers who worked on the study were Daniel McKim, Anzela Niraula, Andrew Tarr and Eric Wohleb.
CONTACTS: Jonathan Godbout, 614-293-3456; Jonathan.Godbout@osumc.edu John Sheridan, 614-293-3571; John.Sheridan@osumc.edu
Written by: Misti Crane, 614-292-5220; Crane.11@osu.edu
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