Sentences with phrase «glial scars»

This is because, after injury, spinal nerve fibers do not regrow past such glial scars and appeared to be «stalled» within them.

The research also revealed glial scars» beneficial role in an experiment in which the scientists softly flog injured neurons into regenerating — a strategy Sofroniew likens to a «carrot and a stick» approach.

In addition to inflammation, previous microelectrode brain implants made of silicon or microwire have caused neuronal death and glial scarring, which is damage to connective tissue in the nervous system.

«For 20 years, we have been applying technologies to prevent glial scarring in hopes of promoting nerve fiber regeneration, repair and recovery, but never observed a positive effect,» said Sofroniew, a professor of neurobiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

«Spinal cord regeneration might actually be helped by glial scar tissue: Research finds that nerve cells regrow better when glial scarring is left intact.»

The problem with reactive glial cells is that they often stay at the injury site, forming a glial scar and preventing neurons from growing back into the injured areas,» he explained.

So several years ago, Chen's lab tested new ways to transform glial scar tissue back to normal neural tissue.

hGDAsCNTF also expressed high levels of neurite - outgrowth inhibitory chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans, phosphacan and CSPG4, as well as the transcription factor Olig2 - all of which have been found to be upregulated in glial scar associated astrocytes.

The key goal of therapy during the acute stage is to reduce the scar tissue within the damaged spinal cord «glial scar» that may impede future healing.

Not exact matches

Co-author Ken Poss of Duke University said that, in mammals, glial cells have traditionally been thought of as the scar - causing cells that present a roadblock for spinal cord repair.

«The most obvious function of glial cells has been related to their role in forming scar tissue to prevent the spread of injury and neuronal degeneration, but so much about their role in the brain is unknown.»

Doctors have long figured that the major roadblock to recovery was the scar tissue formed by a type of glial cells called astrocytes.

Neuroscientists have long believed that scar tissue formed by glial cells — the cells that surround neurons in the central nervous system — impedes damaged nerve cells from regrowing after a brain or spinal cord injury.

«There are more reactive glial cells and fewer functional neurons in the injury site,» Chen said, «so we hypothesized that we might be able to convert glial cells in the scar into functional neurons at the site of injury in the brain.

Dr. Ding will soon begin to use regenerative medicine to transform these inhibitory glial cells into a non-inhibitory CNS cell type, eliminating the field of scar tissue and permitting the transmission of axonal signals.

By contrast, when a human suffers a spinal cord injury, the glial cells form scar tissue, which blocks nerves from ever reconnecting with each other.

For more than a century, scientists thought that glial cells were responsible for scar formation; now, however, a paper published in Science shows that spinal cord scar tissue largely derives from a completely unexpected type of cell called a pericyte, opening new opportunities for the treatment of damaged nerve tissue.Lesions to the brain or spinal cord rarely heal fully, which leads to permanent functional impairment.