Scientists Identify Two Routes to Nerve Cell Regeneration


	Scientists Identify Two Routes to Nerve Cell Regeneration

Mohir

11-8-2008 10:05 AM

368 views

tags:

science, nerve cells, medicine, biology

Mohir says:

In the long run, the optimal strategy for treating spinal injuries may involve a combination of therapies that restore neurons’ ability to grow axons and ones that counteract inhibitory signals near the injury. “You want to do each, and you may need to do both,”

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/53ee8f63-4b28-4c0c-ae60-bc7f745f01bc/2E91EE8D-E85C-4834-84E1-EF4B545653E0/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/11/07/scientists-identify-two-routes-to-nerve-cell-regeneration/" href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/11/07/scientists-identify-two-routes-to-nerve-cell-regeneration/" style="font-size: 11px;">blogs.discovermagazine.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/11/07/scientists-identify-two-routes-to-nerve-cell-regeneration/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/blogs.discovermagazine.com/img/15783073-A639-49D5-BBEE-88BBD648CACB" alt="neuron" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/11/07/scientists-identify-two-routes-to-nerve-cell-regeneration/">Injury to nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, once considered permanent, may be reversible after all.  A pair of new studies demonstrate how to override two biological mechanisms that prevent damaged cells of the central nervous system from regrowing.  The first obstacle are genes that prevent nerve growth and the second are chemical signals that repress nerve growth.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/11/07/scientists-identify-two-routes-to-nerve-cell-regeneration/"><FONT color="#1c39bb"><FONT color="#000000">Harvard researchers</FONT></FONT><FONT color="#1c39bb"><FONT color="#000000"> </FONT></FONT><FONT color="#1c39bb"><FONT color="#000000">identified a <A href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/tag/genetics/" linkindex="25">gene</A>, <EM>PETN</EM>, that inhibits the major growth pathway in nerve cells.  They created genetically modified “knock-out” mice that lacked the gene.</FONT></FONT></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/11/07/scientists-identify-two-routes-to-nerve-cell-regeneration/">in mice lacking <EM>PTEN</EM>, 50% of neurons survived and about 10% of axons in the optic nerve regrew—as far as 4 millimeters in 28 days .</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/11/07/scientists-identify-two-routes-to-nerve-cell-regeneration/">Scientists believe the body makes regeneration of central nervous system cells especially difficult in order to prevent faulty reconnections.  Although the new studies were conducted in mice and cell cultures, similar mechanisms likely operate in humans. </blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/2E91EE8D-E85C-4834-84E1-EF4B545653E0/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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