As if domesticated cats don’t have enough super-abilities, especially their skill in enslaving humans to do their bidding, new research has discovered that cats can actually repair their central nervous system, a finding that could lead to treatments for multiple sclerosis in humans.
In a study published March 30, 2009 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison reports that the restoration in cats of myelin — a fatty insulator of nerve fibers that degrades in a host of human central nervous system disorders, the most common of which is multiple sclerosis — can lead to functional recovery.
“The fundamental point of the study is that it proves unequivocally that extensive remyelination can lead to recovery from a severe neurological disorder,” says Ian Duncan, the UW-Madison neuroscientist who led the research. “It indicates the profound ability of the central nervous system to repair itself.”
Nine Lives: Cats Central Nervous System Can Repair Itself and Restore Function
