New therapy spurs nerve fibers to regrow through scar tissue, transmit signals after spinal cord injury in rodents

At top, spinal cord tissue in an untreated rat shows the damaged axons stopping at the border of the injury. Bottom image shows that the axons in a treated rat regrew across the spinal cord injury, creating new connections in tissue on the other side.
By UCLA Department of Neurobiology
1 min read

UCLA study could lead to new treatments for patients

Neuroscientists at UCLA, Harvard University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have identified a three-pronged treatment that triggers axons — the tiny fibers that link nerve cells and enable them to communicate — to regrow after spinal cord injury in rodents. Not only did the axons grow through scars, they could also transmit signals across the damaged tissue.

Read the UCLA Health Press Release