Cause of Rare, Fatal Disorder in Young Children Pinpointed (IMAGE)
Caption
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have pinpointed the precise cause of Krabbe disease, a neurodegenerative condition that usually causes death by age 3. Studying a mouse model with the same human illness, the researchers also identified a possible therapeutic strategy. Pictured on the left is a normal cross section of a mouse nerve. A protective layer of myelin surrounds the nerve wires, called axons. On the right is a cross section of a nerve from a mouse with Krabbe disease, which causes the loss of this protective layer of myelin and subsequent nerve destruction.
Credit
Sands Lab
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