Genetics Research

KEY FINDING: Inhibition of mTOR reduces cell death in damaged neural tissue following SCI.

KEY FINDING: Nestin-expressing cells are located in all regions of the hair follicle (upper, middle, and lower parts of the vibrissa follicle).

KEY FINDING: Repeated amputations performed at a long distance from the bifurcation do not change its proximal-distal position in the regenerated fin, while consecutive amputations near the bifurcation induce a positional reset and progressively shift its position distally.

KEY FINDING: Both spinal cord and muscle regeneration depend on the Wnt-β-catenin and the Fgf pathways.

KEY FINDING: Expression of endogenous PACAP and its specific PAC1 receptor is elevated in different parts of the central and peripheral nervous system after traumatic injuries.

KEY FINDING: EPO treatment resulted in a more rapid recovery in SCI rats, as evidenced by higher BBB scores.

KEY FINDING: Addition of CSPGs to dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cultures resulted in a reduction of activated integrins and growth inhibition. By adding manganese to the cultures, both FAK phosphorylation and growth response was restored, indicating that integrin activation is sufficient to override the inhibitory effects of CSPGs.

KEY FINDING: ER stress-induced apoptosis is involved in the early stages of spinal cord injury in rats, indicated by increased levels of GRP78, CHOP, and caspase-12.

KEY FINDING: Re-plated neurons extend axons quickly with reduced branching, mimicking the effects of a conditioning lesion.

KEY FINDING: Nav1.7 is robustly expressed in small diameter DRG neurons, particularly in both peptidergic and non-peptidergic subpopulations.