Browse the latest research summaries in the field of neurology for spinal cord injury patients and caregivers.
Showing 5,161-5,170 of 5,401 results
PNAS, 2006 • July 18, 2006
The injured CNS limits functional recovery due to axon regeneration inhibitors (ARIs). Reversing ARI action may enhance axon outgrowth and recovery after CNS injury. Sialidase or chondroitinase ABC en...
KEY FINDING: Infusion of Clostridium perfringens sialidase to the injury site markedly increased the number of spinal axons that grew into the graft.
Nat Rev Neurosci, 2006 • August 1, 2006
The review discusses the inhibitory molecules in the adult CNS environment responsible for regenerative failure after injury. These inhibitors are associated with later stages of nervous system develo...
KEY FINDING: CNS myelin and glial scars inhibit axon outgrowth, but their relative importance in vivo is uncertain. Myelin inhibitors are constitutively expressed, while CSPGs are strongly upregulated following injury, with different time courses of expression ranging from 24 hours to 6 months post-lesion.
J Neurotrauma, 2006 • July 1, 2006
The study aimed to assess the feasibility of bladder reinnervation in a canine model by transecting and immediately repairing ventral roots. Results showed that five of eight nerve transected and repa...
KEY FINDING: Transected ventral and dorsal roots in the sacral spine can be repaired and are capable of functionally reinnervating the urinary bladder.
The Journal of Neuroscience, 2006 • July 26, 2006
This study aimed to determine if the absence of Tenascin-R (TNR) has beneficial effects on recovery from spinal cord injury (SCI) in adult mice. The researchers used TNR-deficient mice and wild-type l...
KEY FINDING: TNR-deficient mice showed better recovery in open-field locomotion compared to wild-type mice after spinal cord compression.
J Comp Neurol, 2006 • October 1, 2006
The study investigates the fate of endogenous stem/progenitor cells following spinal cord injury (SCI) in adult rats and mice. It demonstrates that constitutively dividing progenitor cells are vulnera...
KEY FINDING: Constitutively proliferating adult progenitor cells are vulnerable to spinal cord injury, leading to their death or reduced proliferation.
Molecular Pain, 2006 • August 17, 2006
This study demonstrates that peripheral nerve injury induces changes in the excitability and sodium channel expression in the VPL nucleus of the thalamus. Specifically, the expression of Nav1.3 sodium...
KEY FINDING: Peripheral nerve injury (CCI) leads to increased firing rates of VPL neurons in response to peripheral stimuli.
The Journal of Neuroscience, 2006 • August 23, 2006
The study developed a rat model of cauda equina injury and repair to examine if implantation of avulsed lumbosacral ventral roots into the spinal cord could restore lower urinary tract function. The f...
KEY FINDING: Avulsion injuries led to urinary retention, absence of bladder contractions and EUS EMG activation, increased bladder size, and retrograde death of autonomic and motoneurons.
Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 2006 • July 28, 2006
The adult mammalian CNS does not spontaneously regenerate after injury due to an inhibitory environment and changes in the neurons themselves. This contrasts with the neonatal CNS, which can regenerat...
KEY FINDING: The glial scar, formed by reactive astrocytes, is a major component of the inhibitory environment in the adult CNS. These astrocytes express inhibitory chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans (CSPGs).
Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 2006 • August 4, 2006
This review discusses some aspects of plasticity of connections after spinal injury in adult animal models as a basis for functional recovery of locomotion. It is concluded that recovery is partly due...
KEY FINDING: Locomotor training can modify the excitability of reflex pathways and complex neural circuits within the spinal cord.
The Journal of Neuroscience, 2006 • October 18, 2006
This study investigates the effects of ChABC treatment on promoting plasticity within the spinal cord after injury. The key finding is that ChABC induces de novo sprouting in degenerating white-matter...
KEY FINDING: ChABC promotes sprouting of injured (corticospinal) and intact (serotonergic) descending projections after a cervical dorsal column injury.