Browse the latest research summaries in the field of genetics for spinal cord injury patients and caregivers.
Showing 31-40 of 1,773 results
Journal of Neuroinflammation, 2011 • November 13, 2011
This study examines the role of NG2, a proteoglycan expressed by OPCs, pericytes, and macrophages/microglia, in spinal cord demyelination and remyelination using wild type and NG2 null mice. Results s...
KEY FINDING: The initial volume of spinal cord demyelination in wild type mice is twice as large as in NG2 null mice, suggesting NG2 influences the initial damage phase.
BMC Developmental Biology, 2011 • November 15, 2011
The study characterizes tail regeneration in Xenopus tropicalis tadpoles and creates a transcriptomic resource to identify genes and processes modulated during vertebrate tissue repair and regeneratio...
KEY FINDING: Xenopus tropicalis tadpoles can regenerate their tails, including the spinal cord, muscle, and major blood vessels, similar to Xenopus laevis.
Exp Neurol, 2012 • February 1, 2012
This study systematically analyzed astrocyte differentiation from glial-restricted precursors (GRPs) using different methods and treatments (FBS, BMP-4, CNTF). The resulting astrocytes were characteri...
KEY FINDING: FBS and BMP-4 treatments led to highly differentiated astrocytes, while CNTF resulted in an intermediate state with immature markers.
J Gene Med, 2012 • January 1, 2012
This study investigates the potential of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors to deliver therapeutic transgenes and promote axon regeneration in brainstem neurons following spinal cord injury. The res...
KEY FINDING: AAV-EGFP effectively labeled brainstem neurons and their axons, allowing for visualization of their regeneration into the Schwann cell bridge.
Biomaterials, 2012 • February 1, 2012
The study investigates the delivery of lentiviral vectors from multiple channel bridges as a combinatorial approach to promote regeneration in the injured spinal cord. Lentivirus induced expression of...
KEY FINDING: Lentivirus-loaded bridges resulted in localized protein expression within the injury site, with lower expression in adjacent tissue, with expression maximal at the implantation site.
Cell. Mol. Life Sci., 2012 • May 1, 2012
This study characterizes the morphology and function of leech blood cells, highlighting their involvement in both peripheral immunity and CNS neural repair. The research demonstrates the presence of a...
KEY FINDING: Leeches possess a unique type of blood cell that participates in various immune processes, including antibacterial and antiparasitic defense mechanisms.
Cell Tissue Res, 2012 • December 22, 2011
This review discusses the potential of deoxyribozymes as therapeutic agents for central nervous system (CNS) trauma, particularly spinal cord injury (SCI), in conjunction with bioinformatics approache...
KEY FINDING: Deoxyribozymes, also called DNA enzymes or DNAzymes, are single-stranded DNA molecules developed using systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX).
Neural Development, 2012 • April 26, 2012
This study investigates the role of Sox2+ cells in spinal cord regeneration in Xenopus laevis tadpoles after tail amputation and spinal cord transection. The results demonstrate that spinal cord injur...
KEY FINDING: Tail amputation increases Sox2 mRNA and protein levels in the spinal cord, lateral line, and olfactory epithelium, indicating a systemic response to tissue injury.
Gene Ther., 2012 • September 1, 2012
The study introduces a novel viral strategy for targeting protein expression specifically to the axonal compartment of neurons. This approach utilizes a modified Sindbis virus containing an RNA genome...
KEY FINDING: Adult neurons contain ribosomes in distal axons, particularly at the nodes of Ranvier, suggesting that local protein synthesis is possible in mature axons.
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 2012 • January 3, 2012
Following an acute central nervous system (CNS) injury, axonal regeneration and functional recovery are extremely limited. This is due to an extrinsic inhibitory growth environment and the lack of int...
KEY FINDING: RARβ2 lentiviral infection of adult rat DRGs induced axonal growth and functional recovery of injured sensory neurons into the dorsal root entry zone (DREZ) following dorsal root lesion.