Severed Optical Nerves Can Be Made To Grow Again

Anonymous Coward writes: "It is being hailed as one of the most significant advances in nerve regeneration in a decade. After severing an optic nerve in rats, neurologists have found a way to reconnect it to the brain so that it once again transmits normal electrical signals. As reported in the New Scientist this achievement is a first in mammals, and may hint at ways of reversing some types of blindness in people. Scientists also hope to use a version of the technique to treat people with spinal cord injuries.

Re:What about other nerves?

[IgnorantKnucklehead]

Apparently they've been able to regenerate spinal cords in rats too. There's an article about it here. [about.com] Those rats are some resilient little buggers! (So there's hope for that rat Rush Limbaugh yet ;) )

Oliver Sacks rocks

[Reality Master 101]

If anyone has any interest in how the brain works and the insights one can gain by looking at what happens when the brain malfunctions, I can't recommend the Oliver Sacks [amazon.com] books highly enough. He's a neurologist who studies the brain and has a positive gift for writing about his subjects. Not to be touchy-feely, but he writes about them in a very sensitive way to where you don't feel like people are getting "exploited" for his own gain.

Other tales in his books to whet your appetite:

1) "The man who mistook his wife for a hat", which is the title of one of his books about a man who, otherwise normal, had problems with misconnecting objects to their identities,

2) A woman who could perceive things only on one side (say the left), but not on the other, even though her vision was perfect. When she ate, she would have to eat one side, then turn the plate, eat another half, etc. She was perfectly sane, but just had this wierd perceptual problem.

3) The man who could not make new memories, and lived the same moments over and over. He could remember everything up to an accident he had, but nothing further. Every day he would re-meet the same people. They have to keep mirrors away from him because it freaks him out because he looks too old for himself.

4) The "anthropologist" on mars, who is a pretty famous autistic teacher I think at Colorado. She has perfect image recall, but is entirely without emotions. She actually has her own book that she wrote about what it's like to be her, but I can't remember the name of it (anyone?).

The books are absolutely chock-full of stories like this. If this stuff fascinates you like it does me, I give these books my absolute highest recommendation.

Re:Oliver Sacks rocks

[Reality Master 101]

Here we go: The book about the autistic teacher is called Thinking in Pictures" [amazon.com] by Temple Grandin. I've read this book, too and it's incredibly fascinating. The title reminds me of how her brain works. She literally thinks in pictures, and has to "translate" the pictures into words through a methodical process that she had to learn by rote.

Re:Oliver Sacks rocks

[Reality Master 101]

I think my Amazon link was bad above. Try this link [amazon.com]. Amazon lists the ISBN numbers for the books, but here's a couple if you have trouble:

0684853949: The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a hat

0679756973: An Anthropologist on Mars : Seven Paradoxical Tales

0375704051: Amakenings

Re:Pointless article

[mlk]

[repling to "Flambat", well bye bye Karma, yes I know this is a joke]

<a href="http://www.texthelp.com">TextHELP</a> is the screen reader I use.
Festavial is the only one for Linux (software) I've seen, and have never got it to work :(

mlk

Not applicable to humans

[Anonymous Coward]

The so-called "animal model," such as that used in the experiment described, has received increasing criticism in recent years. A number of scientists have gone so far as to state that animal research for human health is categorically invalid. There exist several physician groups which oppose all animal experiments, for reasons of scientific invalidity alone:

• Americans for Medical Advancement [curedisease.com]
• Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine [pcrm.org]
• Medical Research Modernization Committee [mrmcmed.org]

On a slightly on-topic note...

[dimator]

The man who could not make new memories, and lived the same moments over and over.

Reminds me of Memento [imdb.com]. Pretty cool flick, worth checking out.

Journal Article

[dondelelcaro]

Fischer D, Heiduschka P, Thanos S.
Lens-Injury-Stimulated Axonal Regeneration throughout the Optic Pathway of Adult Rats.
Exp Neurol. 2001 Dec;172(2):257-72. [PDF] [idealibrary.com]

Apologies to those who are unable to view the pdf. (If you're not on a campus who subscribes to idea library, I don't think you can access it.)

Unfortuantly, these researchers still haven't purified the unknown factors that appear to be responsible for nerve growth. (They're in experimental opthamology... so it's not unexpected). Until these factors are purified and their functions described, nerve regrowth therapy will be difficult, if not impossible. Additionally, as some posters have pointed out, there are significant differences between rats and humans, and it remains to be seen if the same factors released by lens trauma are able to produce the same effects in humans or other model organisms. (But the posibility of non-applicability doesn't mean that rats and mice shouldn't be used, it just means that you need to test results obtained in them before applying them willy-nilly to other systems.)

Not so

[wiredog]

Some of us are blind in one eye.

It'd be nice to see stereo again...

Re:What about other nerves?

[Anonymous Coward]

As the article points out, nerve cells themselves are only too happy to regrow... the reason you don't observe this in the case of physical injury is that, in mammals, scar tissue actually inhibits this regrowth. So if we can convince areas to be uninhibited, it could be a huge breakthrough.