TY  - JOUR
A1  - Rottlaender, Andrea
A1  - Kuerten, Stefanie
T1  - Stepchild or prodigy? Neuroprotection in multiple sclerosis (MS) research
JF  - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
N2  - Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system (CNS) and characterized by the infiltration of immune cells, demyelination and axonal loss. Loss of axons and nerve fiber pathology are widely accepted as correlates of neurological disability. Hence, it is surprising that the development of neuroprotective therapies has been neglected for a long time. A reason for this could be the diversity of the underlying mechanisms, complex changes in nerve fiber pathology and the absence of biomarkers and tools to quantify neuroregenerative processes. Present therapeutic strategies are aimed at modulating or suppressing the immune response, but do not primarily attenuate axonal pathology. Yet, target-oriented neuroprotective strategies are essential for the treatment of MS, especially as severe damage of nerve fibers mostly occurs in the course of disease progression and cannot be impeded by immune modulatory drugs. This review shall depict the need for neuroprotective strategies and elucidate difficulties and opportunities.
KW  - experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis
KW  - white matter
KW  - lesions
KW  - remyelination
KW  - multiple sclerosis
KW  - regeneration
KW  - neuroprotection
KW  - degeneration
KW  - axonal damage
KW  - neurodegeneration
KW  - pathology
KW  - sodium channels
KW  - axonal injury
KW  - central nervous system
Y1  - 2015
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-148416
VL  - 16
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Koeniger, Tobias
A1  - Kuerten, Stefanie
T1  - Splitting the "unsplittable": Dissecting resident and infiltrating macrophages in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis
JF  - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
N2  - Macrophages predominate the inflammatory landscape within multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions, not only regarding cellularity but also with respect to the diverse functions this cell fraction provides during disease progression and remission. Researchers have been well aware of the fact that the macrophage pool during central nervous system (CNS) autoimmunity consists of a mixture of myeloid cells. Yet, separating these populations to define their unique contribution to disease pathology has long been challenging due to their similar marker expression. Sophisticated lineage tracing approaches as well as comprehensive transcriptome analysis have elevated our insight into macrophage biology to a new level enabling scientists to dissect the roles of resident (microglia and non-parenchymal macrophages) and infiltrating macrophages with unprecedented precision. To do so in an accurate way, researchers have to know their toolbox, which has been filled with diverse, discriminating approaches from decades of studying neuroinflammation in animal models. Every method has its own strengths and weaknesses, which will be addressed in this review. The focus will be on tools to manipulate and/or identify different macrophage subgroups within the injured murine CNS.
KW  - CNS
KW  - distinction
KW  - experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis
KW  - inflammation
KW  - macrophages
KW  - markers
KW  - microglia
KW  - monocytes
Y1  - 2017
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-285067
SN  - 1422-0067
VL  - 18
IS  - 10
ER  -