http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/6/267/267ec216.full?utm_source=eloqua
+ Author Affiliations
Injury to the spinal cord, the main
information highway up and down the body, triggers upregulation of
highly glycosylated
proteins at the site of injury. This acts as a
barrier to nerve regeneration and “traps” nerves’ growing tips,
preventing
neurological recovery. Lang et al. developed
an inhibitor that interferes with proteoglycan binding to its receptor
[protein tyrosine phosphatase σ (PTPσ)] and
is able to reverse the nerve regrowth blockage
after spinal cord injury and improve the animals’ functional recovery.
Rats with spinal cord injury were injected
with the PTPσ-binding drug subcutaneously daily for several weeks. At
the end of
treatment, urinary function and walking were
improved compared with control animals, with higher doses producing
better urinary
function. Unexpectedly, the researchers did not
observe regeneration of corticospinal tract fibers through the injury in
the
treated rats. Rather, below the lesion, they saw
significant sprouting of dense territories of serotonergic neurons.
Treatment
with a serotonin antagonist reduced locomotor and
urinary function in the treatment group but not the control group. This
result indicated that the neurological improvement
was a result of increased serotonin production from sprouting and
regrowth
of nerves that survived the injury rather than of
reconnections of injured nerve fibers.
The practical advantage of delivering the drug systemically and the positive results of this study suggest that this approach
holds great potential as a treatment for patients with spinal cord injury.
B. T. Lang et al., Modulation of the proteoglycan receptor PTPσ promotes recovery after spinal cord injury. Nature 10.1038/nature13974 (2014). [Abstract]
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