New Nerve Insights Could Someday Help Heal Certain Types of Blindness and Paralysis

A team of UConn School of Medicine researchers report in the journal Development that at least a small population of nerve cells exist in everyone that could be coaxed to regrow, potentially restoring sight and movement.

Some animals can regrow axons, but mammals such as mice and humans cannot. It was assumed that mammals lack the immature nerve cells that would be needed. But a team of researchers in UConn School of Medicine neuroscientist Ephraim Trakhtenberg’s lab has found otherwise. In the published paper, they report the existence of neurons that behave similarly to embryonic nerve cells. They express a similar subset of genes, and can be experimentally stimulated to regrow long-distance axons that, under the right circumstances, could lead to healing some vision problems caused by nerve damage. The researchers also found two genes that were particularly active in these neurons during experimental axon regeneration, and found that activating them in injured neurons also promoted axon regeneration. They could be targets for future therapies. 

Read the full University of Connecticut article here.