Disease research hope

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33786, 7 March 1975, Page 14

Disease research hope

The most recent idea to come from research into multiple sclerosis was that a hereditary genetic defect in certain people meant that they could not form antibodies to the infective agent, whatever that agent was, a visiting professor of neurology said in Christchurch yesterday. Professor W. I. McDonald, professor of clinical neurology at the Institute of Neurology. Queen Square, London, said that the cause of multiple sclerosis was still one of its “great unexplained features.”

; It was well established that i there was a geographical . factor involved, because (people in the temperate zone (were more subject to (multiple sclerosis than those [in tropical climates and it 'had been suggested that the (infective agent was a virus. (This was still only a suggestion but a number of researchers were working on it. It had also been suggested that multiple sclerosis might be the result of an abnormal reaction to the measles virus, but there were other possibilities that were just asi $

likely, said Professor McDonald. He said he had been working on methods of earlier detection of multiple sclerosis and an electrical method was proving useful in suspected cases. Facilities (for this method should be I available at Christchurch Hospital within the next few months and research into (early detection would continue at the hospital and the (Christchurch Clinical School. There was still no specific treatment for multiple sclerosis, said Professor McDonald. There were some promising lines of research making use of methods of controlling the antibodyforming mechanisms but it was too early to say whether these would be effective.

But he saw some ground (for hope. “We know morel ' about multiple sclerosis than (ever before; more research is' being done on it than ever! before and scientists in many different disciplines are studying it. It is reasonable to hope that in a few years we will find out what the' cause is.” PARAPLEGIA Professor McDonald said that another of his research

interests was paraplegia and the mechanisms of recovery. In severe cases of spinal injury the nerve fibres were! severed and there was little or no recovery, but in less (severe cases the insulating (myelin sheath was destroyed, ( leaving the central fibres ( intact. It had been found ini animal studies that a new sheath formed but it was ( thin at first and it was not yet known if it became thick enough to restore the conductivity of the nerve fibres. No techniques had yet been developed to measure the myelin sheath in humans but indications were that this might be possible by electrical means in two or three years. Professor McDonald, who graduated in medicine from (the Otago Medical School in 11957 and gained his Ph.D. in neorophysiology at Otago in; 1962, left New Zealand in 1963. He is in Christchurch for three weeks at the invitation .of the Christchurch Hospitals Postgraduate Society and the! Christchurch Clinical School! to lecture to students and ; staff and to t ike part in ! clinical work. j