Regenerating injured nerve fibers (IMAGE)
Caption
These four panels show regeneration of injured axons in mice under four treatment scenarios. When the growth factor CNTF (ciliary neurotrophic factor) was used alone (placed directly in the retina), growth was slightly but only modestly increased (panel B) as compared with untreated control mice (panel A). In panels C and D, researchers used genetic techniques to delete a suppressor of injury-induced growth factors, known as SOCS3, and got substantially more regeneration -- especially in mice also receiving CNTF (panel D). All studies were done in retinal ganglion cells that constitute the optic nerve, a common model for studying regeneration in the central nervous system.
Credit
Courtesy Fang Sun, PhD, Children’s Hospital Boston.
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