Neutron diffraction shows how myelin gets on your nerves
New research has shed light on the way in which our nerves conduct electrical signals around our bodies. The structure of myelin, the layer of insulating fat surrounding nerve cells of vertebrates, has now been analysed in detail using neutron diffraction, providing a major step forward in understanding how our body's nervous system functions. Defects in myelin structure are known to significantly impair nerve conduction, and are implicated in such incompletely understood neurological disorders as multiple sclerosis and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease in the Central Nervous System (CNS) or Guillain-Barré Syndrome and Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy in the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS). It is hoped that an improved understanding of the structure and functionality of myelin will enhance our ability to detect and treat these conditions in future.