IU researchers discover a new ability to recover from an operation after a spinal cord injury

Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have reprogrammed glial cell type in the central nervous system into new neurons to promote recovery after spinal cord injury – revealing the potential of non- developed to reduce the cell for regenerative medicine.

The group of analysts published their findings March 5 in Stem cells. This is the first time scientists have reported that they convert glia NG2 – a type of support cell in the central nervous system – into active neurons after a spinal cord injury, Wei said. Wu, PhD, research researcher in neurological surgery at the IU School of Medicine and co-author of the paper.

Wu and Xiao-Ming Xu, PhD, worked as Mari Hulman George Professor of Neuroscience Research at the IU School of Medicine, studied by a team of scientists from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Xu is also a senior member of the Stark Neurosciences Research Institute, where he leads the Indiana Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Group.

Spinal injuries affect hundreds of thousands of people in the United States, with thousands more diagnosed each year. Neurons in the spinal cord do not regenerate after an injury, which usually leads to chronic physical and brain diseases.

“Unfortunately, effective treatments for overcoming improvement are still significant,” Xu said. “We hope this new discovery will translate into a clinically relevant repair strategy that will benefit those suffering from spinal injuries.”

When the spine is injured, glial cells, of which there are three types – astrocyte, ependymal and NG2 – respond in the formation of glial scar tissue.

“Only glial NG2 cells were detected that exhibited neurogenic potential in the spinal cord after injury in adult mice, but failed to generate mature neurons,” Wu said. “Interestingly, by increasing the SOX2 critical transcription factor, the glia-to-neuron conversion is successfully achieved and accompanied by the formation of a smaller glial scar and greater functional recovery after injury. backbone. ”

The researchers reprogrammed the NG2 cells from the mouse model using high levels of SOX2 – a transcription factor found within the cell that is essential for neurogenesis – to neurons. This reversal has two reasons, Xu said: the generation of neurons to replace those lost as a result of spinal injuries and reduced the size of the glial separations in the lesion area of ​​the old damaged material.

This finding, Wu said, is an important future target for potential therapeutic treatments in spinal cord injury.

The partnership between the laboratory of Chun-Li Zhang, PhD, a professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Xu’s laboratory at IU School of Medicine greatly benefited the research, Xu added, by offering co-experience -participated in neuronal reprogramming and in spinal cord injuries, respectively. .

“Such collaboration between the two laboratories will continue to address neuronal remodeling and recovery of function after successful conversion of glial cells to active neurons in the future,” Xu said.

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