Scientists Discover a New Pathway for Neuron Repair
A new study to be published on January 30 in the journal Cell Reports has uncovered a brand new pathway for repairing nerve cells. The findings suggest that the dendrites, the component of nerve cells that receive information from the brain, have the ability to self-heal after an injury.
Previous studies have found that when nerve cells got injured, they repair the damage through the axons – the component of a neuron that sends information to other cells. “For example, if you break your arm and the bone slices some axons, you may lose feeling or movement in part of your hand. Over time you get this feeling back as the axon regenerates." explained co-author Melissa Rolls, an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State University.
In their study, Rolls and her colleagues tried what they call a “radical approach” by cutting off all dendrites in the nerve cells. "We wanted to really push the cells to the furthest limit," she said. "By cutting off all the dendrites, the cells would no longer be able to receive information, and we expected they might die. We were amazed to find that the cells don’t die. Instead, they regrow the dendrites completely and much more quickly than they regrow axons. Within a few hours they’ll start regrowing dendrites, and after a couple of days they have almost their entire arbour. It’s very exciting—these cells are extremely robust."
Aside from this, the researchers also discovered that dendrite regeneration happens independently of axon regeneration. When they blocked the key signalling molecules that are required for axon regeneration in all animals, the dendrites were unaffected.
"This means that, not only do these neurons have an incredible ability to generate, they have two different regeneration pathways: one for axons and one for dendrites," Rolls said. And because dendrite regeneration is a new discovery, the researchers note that it is not clear yet what is involved in this process.
Although more research is needed, the Penn State team believe that their findings have very important implications for human health. “For example, in the case of stroke, when a region of the brain suffers blood loss, dendrites on brain cells are damaged and can be repaired only if blood loss is very brief. Otherwise, it is thought those brain cells die.” Rolls said. “But if those cells are able to regenerate dendrites, and if scientists learn how dendrite regrowth happens, researchers may be able to promote this process.”
Source of this article:
Dendrite injury triggers DLK-independent regeneration
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