Prolactin protects white matter

Calgary, Canada -

A recent paper (Gregg et al. White matter plasticity and enhanced remyelination in the maternal CNS.J Neurosci. 2007 Feb 21;27(8):1812-23) describes an increased generation of myelin-forming oligodendrocytes and increased number of myelinated axons in mice that are pregnant as compared to female controls.

The study also demonstrated increased ability to repair white matter lesions in pregnant as opposed to control mice.

The authors provide evidence that prolactin is associated, at least in part with the upregulated ability to remyelinate.

This is very interesting because white matter damage is believed to be responsible, at least in some cases, for cerebral palsy. The question is how long AFTER the white matter injury has occured can prolactin's therapeutic effects be present?