P2X7 receptors regulate peripheral myelination

• Grant number: 14/17980-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: September 23, 2015
• End date: September 22, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems
• Principal Investigator: Sandra Regina Perosa
• Grantee: Sandra Regina Perosa
• Host Investigator: Alexej Verkhratsky
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Manchester, England

Abstract

Re-myelination is one of the greatest challenges in the therapy of peripheral neuropathies (PN). Demyelinating conditions are a vast clinical problem affecting up to 20 million people in US alone, with more than $3.5 billion of healthcare expenditure and devastating consequences on the patients' quality of life. Pharmacological approaches for the treatment of diseases affecting the integrity and degeneration of myelin are not clinically available. This study will test the hypothesis that pharmacological modulation of purinergic receptors on glial cells and adipose derived stem cells can provide controlled re-myelination of neuronal axons, thereby offering the potential as a novel therapeutic intervention to these debilitating diseases. In particular, this study will (i) investigate the role of P2X7 receptors as pharmacological targets for the repair and re-myelination of the peripheral nervous system and (ii) investigate P2X7 signalling in adipose-derived stem cells as a novel tool to improve their regenerative potential. (AU)