On the hunt for genes involved in regenerating critical nerve fibers called axons, biologists at the University of California San Diego came away with a surprise: The discovery of a new genetic pathway that carries hope for victims of traumatic injuries -- from stroke to spinal cord damage.
UC San Diego Biological Sciences Assistant Project Scientist Kyung Won Kim, Professor Yishi Jin and their colleagues conducted a large-scale genetic screening in the roundworm C. elegans seeking ultimately to understand genetic influences that might limit nerve regrowth in humans. Unexpectedly, the researchers found the PIWI-interacting small RNA (piRNA) pathway -- long believed to be restricted to function in the germline -- plays an active role in neuron damage regeneration.
The discovery is published online Jan. 25, 2018 in the journal Neuron.
"This came as a total surprise," said Jin, Chair of the Section of Neurobiology, Division of Biological Sciences, and a member of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine in UC San Diego's School of Medicine. "piRNA wasn't anywhere on our radar, but now we are convinced that it is a new pathway that functions in neurons and, with some work, could offer therapeutic targets for helping neurons do better against injury."
(Score: 2) by The Shire on Sunday January 28 2018, @03:48PM (1 child)
If you read the paper you will see that this does not represent a method of repairing damaged nerves, only the possibility of growing new dendrites at the site of the injury. It's like a network cable to your computer. If you cut the cable between your PC and your router in half you can put a new connector on one end but the new cable doesn't reach your computer anymore, it's too short, so communication isn't restored.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 28 2018, @03:57PM
Accelerated dendritic growth is, indeed, like splicing a cut wire - it will have a slightly reduced conduction velocity, there will be retraining time to interpret the new signal pathways, but compared to no conduction at all, a patched cut is infinitely more functional.
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