A study carried out by the group headed by doctor Eduardo Molina at the National Hospital for Paraplegics, in which researchers from the Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Biochemistry from the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) have also participated, has determined that the precursor for oligodendrocyte synthesizes endocannabinoids, which are fundamental in the myelination of neuron axons affected by pathologies such as multiple sclerosis and bone-marrow injury.
The results that the journal Biochemical Pharmacology has now published come from the research the group has been carrying out for some years on the role the cannabinoid system has as a potential therapeutic target for treating a range of nervous system disorders.
Specifically speaking, and as explained by professor Óscar Gómez Torres, in this research the role of the endogenous cannabinoide system is studied in-depth "in one of the fundamental biological functions for repairing tissue damage from the pathologies described above: the migration of precursors of oligodendrocyte". This cell, found in the central nervous system, plays a part in the formation of myelin sheaths around the neuron axons.
The results shown in this work, which supplement previous studies and have been used to develop the doctoral thesis of María A. Sánchez Rodríguez, determine that the very precursor of oligodendrocyte synthesizes endocannabinoids, "which are crucial for this cell to divide, migrate and to mature finally, myelining in this way, the neuron axons affected by the injury.
UCLM Communication Office Toledo, 1st of October 2018.