ABSTRACT

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is thought to be an inflammatory, autoimmune demyelinating disease in which myelin and the myelin-producing cells, called oligodendrocytes, are destroyed. Axonal insulation, called myelin, is a multilamellar membrane required for efficient nerve conduction. When myelin is disrupted, conduction slows and clinical signs become evident. In MS plaque tissue, oligodendrocytes die by necrosis; this is evidenced by their hypertrophied cell bodies and disrupted plasma and mitochondrial membranes. The prevalence of actively phagocytosing cells in the plaques has implicated activated macrophages as myelin and oligodendrocyte destroyers. Their presence infers that, among other toxins, free radicals of oxygen and nitrogen are at work in this pathology.