By IANS
New York : A new study has identified what may well be a key first step towards the regeneration of nerve cells after spinal cord injury, using the body’s own stem cells.
The study, by a multi-university team of researchers, has mapped the body’s reaction to spinal injury — information that could lead to novel ways of repairing previously irreversible nerve damage in the spinal cord.
The findings of the study have been published in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
The study sought to answer a question that has intrigued the medical fraternity for long: why, unlike other organs, is the adult nervous system unable to repair itself following spinal injury?
The researchers, led by Philip Horner, sought an answer in the role of stem cells.
“Because of their regenerative role, it is crucial to understand the movements of stem cells following brain or spinal cord injury,” said Horner. “We know that stem cells are present within the spinal cord, but it was not known why they could not function to repair the damage.”
The surprising answer: stem cells actually migrate away from the lesion in a spinal cord injury.
Trying to find why they do so, Horner’s team tested numerous proteins and identified netrin-1 as the molecule for driving stem cells away from the injury, preventing them from replenishing the nerve cells.
“When we blocked netrin-1 function, the adult stem cells remained at the injury site,” said Tim Kennedy, co-leader of the team.
“This is a critical first step towards understanding the molecular events needed to repair the injured spinal cord and provides us with new targets for potential therapies.”