Researchers from UCLA, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and Harvard University have discovered a crucial element in restoring functional activity after spinal cord injury in mice. They found that regrowing specific neurons to their natural target regions led to recovery, while random regrowth did not. In a 2018 study, they identified a method to trigger axon regeneration after spinal cord injury in rodents but faced challenges in achieving functional recovery. In their new study, they used advanced genetic analysis to identify nerve cell groups that enable walking improvement after partial spinal cord injury. By guiding axon regeneration to their natural target regions using chemical signals, they observed significant improvements in walking ability in mice with complete spinal cord injuries. The findings provide insights into axon regeneration and offer promise for restoring neurological functions in larger animals and humans, though they acknowledge the complexity of longer-distance regeneration in non-rodents.
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Restoring Function After Spinal Cord Injury in Mice
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