Cell transportation could help spinal cord nerves recover from injuries

Injuries to the spinal cord often lead to paralysis, which has a marked impact on the sufferers and their families. One of the unresolved questions in neuroscience is why the nerve fibers of the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) don't regenerate after an injury. The mystery is made all the more intriguing by the fact that the fibers of the peripheral nervous system (which innervate the body's limbs and organs) have this ability to regenerate. Thousands of scientists around the world are trying to solve this question. A team of researchers from the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology(IBMC) at the University of Porto has now revealed that the transport of molecules and cellular components in the fibers is a potential target for the regeneration of the central nervous system.

In a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, the team led by Mónica Sousa studied the behavior of cells in the dorsal root ganglia, structures with fibers that extend to the periphery of the body and to the spinal cord. Only the peripheral fibers regenerate after an injury; the fibers that extend into the spinal cord do not have this capacity. The team found that injured cells in the periphery experience an increase in the transport of molecules and cell components along the fibers, towards the site of the injury. Surprisingly, the same happens in the central fibers, which connect to the spinal cord.

This phenomenon may explain why the central fibers of the dorsal root ganglia acquire the capacity to regenerate: all the machinery and components needed to regenerate the lesion are present and functioning. The manipulation of transport in the fibers could open the way to ways of increasing the regenerative capacity of the fibers of the central nervous system.

This study was funded by FCT through a Collaborative Research Grant from the Harvard Medical School - Portugal Program.