A study conducted at the University of Calgary (Canada) suggests that lto prolactin, a hormone that is naturally produced during pregnancy and that helps in breast milk production among other functions, could serve as a treatment of multiple sclerosis, neurodegenerative disease that affects the body's immune system destroying the myelin that covers nerve cells, so far has no cure.
Apparently, prolactin increases myelin production and helps repair the damage caused by multiple sclerosis. The study motivated, that this disease that affects more women than men, remitted in women who became pregnant and even the improvement extended two more months after giving birth. In the research, published in the digital journal Journal of Neuroscience, they show us the findings of their study in mice, in which they destroyed the myelin that surrounds nerve cells, just as MS acts. At two weeks, myelin-producing cells (oligodendrocytes) doubled in pregnant females and continued to generate more. Even after giving birth, they showed 50% more myelin in their nerve cells.
They also injected myelin into non-pregnant rodents, and their myelin repair was observed similarly.
The research is still under way with great hope, because if the following tests on animals lead to success, it can be tested whether the hormone can be used in the treatment of people suffering from multiple sclerosis or other diseases with spinal cord injuries.
