Myelination increases the brain's capacity to process information from different regions of the brain. In the frontal lobes of the brain, peak myelination is reached at age 45. As aging continues, there is a gradual loss of myelin in the frontal lobes. Dysregulation of myelin development may result in symptoms and cognitive impairments that characterize disorders such as schizophrenia and ADHD. In addition, the loss of myelin may contribute to the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's. Currently, the methods used to measure myelination are based on single modality imaging. These approaches do not accurately measure myelination in specific areas of the brain. A method to accurately measure myelination levels is key for biomedical research and medical decision-making.

INNOVATION:  UCLA researchers have determined a method to obtain specific in vivo measurements of myelin deposition and loss of myelin in the central nervous system. This method allows for myelin quantification in different tissues with maximum specificity. In particular myelination of regions that are most uniquely human and most vunerable to abnormalities can be distinguished and quantified. Further characterization of myelination such as the maturity of myelin in specific locations of the brain can also be accomplished.

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS 

• Drug development for indications such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's, ADHD, and schizophrenia
• Diagnosis of above mentioned diseases
• Monitoring of efficacy of therapeutics for individual patients

ADVANTAGES

• increases temporal resolution by 1-2 orders of magnitude over existing methods
• short refractory period
• large fractional fluorescence changes
• high sensitivity to voltage changes
• insensitive to changes in other parameters (including pH or calcium concentration)
• reduced background fluorescence as compared to other techniques

Reference: UCLA Case No. 2006-457