New potential for functional recovery after spinal cord injury
By Admin | May 03, 2021
Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have successfully reprogrammed a glial cell type in the central nervous system into new neurons to promote recovery after spinal cord injury, revealing an untapped potential to leverage the cell for regenerative medicine.
The group of investigators published their findings March 5 in Cell Stem Cell. This is the first time scientists have reported modifying a NG2 glia, a type of supporting cell in the central nervous system, into functional neurons after spinal cord injury, said Wei Wu, PhD, research associate in neurological surgery at IU School of Medicine and co-first author of the paper. Wu and Xiao-Ming Xu, PhD, the Mari Hulman George Professor of Neuroscience Research at IU School of Medicine, worked on the study with a team of scientists from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Xu is also a primary member of Stark Neurosciences Research Institute, where he leads the Indiana Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Group. Spinal cord injuries affect hundreds of thousands of people in the United States, with thousands more diagnosed each year. Neurons in the spinal cord don’t regenerate after injury, which typically causes a person to experience permanent physical and neurological ailments.“Unfortunately, effective treatments for significant recovery remain to be...(More)
For more info please read, New potential for functional recovery after spinal cord injury, by Spinal Surgery News
