Method To Repair Damaged Adult Nerves Discovered 128
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers have discovered a promising method to regrow damaged nerves in adults. Brain and spinal-cord injuries typically leave people with permanent impairment because the injured nerve fibers (axons) cannot regrow. A study from Harvard and Carleton University, published in the December 10 issue of the journal Neuron, shows that axons can regenerate vigorously in a mouse model when a gene that suppresses natural growth factors is deleted. Here is the journal article (subscription required to view more than the abstract)."
Re:nerve growth unsuppressed == tumors? (Score:4, Interesting)
Sure, side effects of nerve growth unsuppression has to be studied. It may have implication in brain function disorders as well as elevated risks of tumors.or any other. By the way, this lead the path to further researches on proteins and other chemical treatments that may just temporarily inhibit that suppressor. Benefits risks ratio for a time restricted unsuppression could offer hope and an acceptable solution for nerve injured.
Excellent (Score:4, Interesting)
Will this work for hearing? Abusing my ears with loud music and gun fire has resulted in some loss of hearing for me. Since I won't read the subscription article, does it say it works for all nerves or just the spinal stuff?
Re:nerve growth unsuppressed == tumors? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:nerve growth unsuppressed == tumors? (Score:3, Interesting)
Tumors form through uncontrolled growth of cells. Axons are the connections between nerve cells that conduct the nerve impulses. There is no cell division proliferation going on here.
That's true, the goal here is to let existing cells regrow their axons, not for cells to multiply - which is what cancer is a bad form of. So this might not directly be relevant to cancer.
However, there are plenty of other ways in which this could turn out to have side effects that make it a bad idea. One basic concern is that there is probably a reason why axon growth is supressed in the central nervous system - after all, the brain is amazingly complicated, and all those connections between brain cells need to be of the right kind. If things start connecting where they shouldn't, badness may occur. So just stopping the suppression might lead to too many connections being made.
But this is all speculation. Bottom line, this sounds like a breakthrough finding by the researchers, and one that will lead to a lot of followup investigation. Kudos to them.
Mod parent up. Risk v. reward. (Score:1, Interesting)
All medications have side effects, and as consumers of those medications we weigh the potential risks against the potential benefits. In this case, if you're afflicted with a condition that this could cure at the expense of increased risk of (even near-guaranteed) cancer long-term, well, you've got a choice between longevity and quality of life.
Where to go (Score:3, Interesting)
It's one thing to regrow an axon in a petri dish. It's something else to regrow a 1m long axon inside a fully developed human body, and have it innervate the same muscle (for example) that the damaged axon connected to. It's not going to be a trivial challenge. This may have an impact in some traumatic injuries where the bundle can be reconnected before it's scarred shut or resorbed. For chronic conditions, this isn't going to have a direct impact in any near future. An exciting development nonetheless. Will have to follow the primary literature that comes from these authors.
Re:Excellent (Score:2, Interesting)