A compound found in the shell of cashews can help in neurodegeneration.
"We see this as an exciting finding, suggesting a new avenue in the search for therapies to correct the ravages of MS and other demyelinating diseases," said the paper's senior author, Subramaniam Sriram, MBBS, William C. Weaver III Professor of Neurology and chief of the Division of Neuroimmunology.
The compound can repair myelin sheath, a protective insulating material of the nervous system. Damage to the myelin sheath results in diseases of the central nervous system, one being multiple sclerosis.
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Findings were reported by a team from Vanderbilt University Medical Center and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The results describe work on demyelinated animal models who were treated with anarcardic acid in a dose-dependent manner.
"These are striking results that clearly urge further study of anarcardic acid for demyelinating diseases," Sriram said.
Source: Science Daily
