Trends Cell Biol, 2011 · DOI: 10.1016/j.tcb.2011.08.003 · Published: October 1, 2011
Understanding how axons regenerate is important for treating spinal cord injury or stroke. Researchers have studied axon regeneration in different animals, including the worm C. elegans. This worm is easy to study genetically, and scientists can cut individual axons in living worms using lasers. Many C. elegans neurons can regrow after being cut, and sometimes they can even reconnect properly. Scientists have been doing large-scale genetic studies to figure out which genes are important for axon regrowth. Even though C. elegans doesn't have myelin (a substance found in the vertebrate brain), the basic way that axons regrow seems to be similar in worms and other animals.
Identifying key regulators of axon regeneration in C. elegans, such as DLK-1 and components of the calcium/cAMP signaling pathway, can provide potential therapeutic targets for promoting axon regeneration in humans after spinal cord injury or stroke.
The ease of performing combinatorial genetics in C. elegans allows for the identification of synergistic interactions between different regeneration pathways, which can inform the development of more effective combinatorial therapies for promoting axon regeneration.
The C. elegans model can be used as a platform for high-throughput drug screening to identify small molecules that enhance axon regeneration. Such molecules could be further developed as potential therapeutic agents.