Paris - Multiple sclerosis (MS), the disease of the nervous system that affects around a million people around the world, may be combatted by a compound currently being tested against strokes, according to the January issue of Nature Medicine.
MS is caused by the gradual destruction of the myelin covering of nerve fibres, disrupting the transmission of nerve impulses.
The symptoms are muscle weakness, slurred speech and eventually paralysis.
One of the suspected causes of MS is a substance unleashed by the immune system, called glutamate, which binds to components of the specialised cells that produce the protective myelin.
Teams working separately in London and New York say they are encouraged by experiments on laboratory mice that prevent the binding process, the magazine said.
They used a compound, NPQX, which inhibits the activation of the cell components, which are called AMPA-kainate receptors.
There was a "substantial amelioration" in nerve damage and in the survival of the myelin-producing cells, said the New York group, working at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Beth Israel Medical Centre.
Compounds similar to NBQX "may prove to be an effective therapy for multiple sclerosis", they said.
NBQX is already being tested on victims of stroke, epilepsy and neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's disease and Parkinson's. - Sapa-AFP