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Researchers funded in part by the National MS Society have found biological evidence that the recovery of nerve signaling speed along the optic nerve after its insulating myelin coating has been damaged – detected using a method called visual evoked potentials (VEP) – may reflect myelin repair. This affirms the potential value of VEP in future clinical trials of myelin repair strategies for MS. The team is led by Professor Ian D. Duncan (University of Wisconsin-Madison). 

• VEP is a method of using flashing lights to measure the speed of nerve signaling in the optic nerve – the bundle of nerve fibers that relays visual signals between the eyes and the brain.
• VEP is sometimes used in clinical settings to detect changes in nerve signaling. What is new in this research, conducted in lab models, is that the team uncovered biological evidence of myelin repair occurring in conjunction with recovering nerve signals.
• Affirming VEP as a tool for detecting myelin repair would improve the ability to detect the success of myelin repair strategies in MS clinical trials.

• “Evoked potentials as a biomarker of remyelination” was published December 16, 2019 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  

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