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News Beck 10.2019
An interneuron (bright, with long appendages) from the hippocampus of the rat. The finely branched axon (top left cloud) surrounds the cell bodies of pyramidal cells and can inhibit these effectively.
© Leonie Pothmann/Uni Bonn

Publication

Epilepsy: Function of "brake cells" disrupted

In some forms of epilepsy, the function of certain "brake cells" in the brain is presumed to be disrupted. This may be one of the reasons why the electrical malfunction is able to spread from the point of origin across large parts of the brain. A current study by the University of Bonn with members of the cluster of excellence ImmunoSensation2, in which researchers from Lisbon were also involved, points in this direction. The results are published in the renowned "Journal of Neuroscience".

Publication

Leonie Pothmann, Christian Klos, Oliver Braganza, Sarah Schmidt, Oihane Horno, Raoul-Martin Memmesheimer and Heinz Beck: Altered dynamics of canonical feed-back inhibition predicts increased burst transmission in chronic epilepsy; The Journal Of Neuroscience; https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2594-18.2019

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Publication

Multiple Sclerosis: Potential biomarker linked to progression and brain inflammation identified

—Better ways to detect ongoing brain damage in multiple sclerosis (MS) are urgently needed. An international team of scientists, including ImmunoSensation³ member Prof. Anne-Katrin Pröbstel, has identified a molecular circuit that drives brain injury in MS. In a mouse model, blocking the enzyme Bruton's tyrosine kinase prevented harmful clustering of immune cell and brain tissue demage. Patient data revealed the same immune signaling pattern, suggesting strong translational potential for diagnosis. The study was recently published in Nature Immunology.
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Publication

Instructions for building antibodies decoded

—MOG Antibody-associated Disease (MOGAD) is a rare autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. The blood of patients contains antibodies against myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG), a protein in the myelin layer that surrounds the neurons in the brain. It is believed that these antibodies contribute to the destruction of this protective layer in the brain. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the Universities of Basel and Bonn, in collaboration with an international team, have now deciphered the construction plan of the anti-MOG antibodies.
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A fatal mix-up: how certain gut bacteria drive multiple sclerosis

—If gut bacteria are too similar to the protective layer of nerves, they can misdirect the immune system and cause it to attack its own nervous system. This mechanism can accelerate the progression of multiple sclerosis, as researchers at the University of Basel, together with colleagues in Bonn, have shown in trials with mice. However, their results also open up opportunities for treatments that make use of the microbiome. The results have now been published in the journal Gut Microbes.
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