Degeneration and Regeneration of Axons in the Lesioned Spinal Cord.
Schwab, Martin E., and Deborah Bartholdi.
Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, August Forel-STR.1, 8029
Zurich, Switzerland.
APStracts 2:0024P, 1996.
ABSTRACT
For many decades, the inability of lesioned central neurons to regrow was
accepted almost as a "law of nature," and on the clinical level, spinal cord
and brain lesions were seen as being irreversible. Today we are starting to
understand the mechanisms of neuronal degeneration and survival and the
reasons for the absence of spontaneous axon regeneration in the central
nervous system and its presence in the periphery. There is now a rapid
expansion in this field of neuroscience. Developmental neurobiology has
produced tools and concepts that start to show their impact on regeneration
research. This is particularly true for the availability of antibodies and
factors and for the rapidly growing cellular and molecular understanding of
crucial aspects of neurite growth, guidance, target finding, and synapse
stabilization. New cell biological concepts on the mechanisms of neuron
survival and death and on the interaction of inflammatory cells with the
central nervous system also find their way into the field of spinal cord and
brain lesions and have, indeed, led already to new therapeutic approaches.
This review briefly summarizes the current knowledge on the mechanism involved
in degeneration and tissue loss and in axonal regeneration subsequent to
spinal cord lesions, particularly in mammals and humans.
APS Manuscript Number P24-5.
Article publication pending April 1996, Physiological Reviews.
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 5 November 1996