Supportive Cells Of Brain Lay Out Functional Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury

Glial cell in the central nervous system has been successfully reprogrammed into new neurons to facilitate the recovery after spinal cord injury thereby revealing an untapped potential to leverage the cell for regenerative medicine, as per a study at the Indiana University School of Medicine, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell. Glial cells are a type of supporting cell to the neurons in the central nervous system. Among the, three types – astrocyte, ependymal and NG2 are said to respond to form glial scar tissue. The study team was the first to perform the modification of NG2 glia into functional neurons after spinal cord injury.

The spinal cord is a thin, long tubular outgrowth of nervous tissue, which gives rise to our nerves and extends to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). Spinal cord injuries affect hundreds of thousands of people in the United States, with thousands more diagnosed each year.

The regeneration capacity of the neurons in the spinal cord is said to be lost after injury, which usually results in permanent physical and neurological ailments.

Glial Cells Reprogrammed to Neurons

"Unfortunately, effective treatments for significant recovery remain to be developed. We hope that this discovery will be translated to a clinically relevant repair strategy that benefits those who suffer from a spinal cord injury", says Xiao-Ming Xu, Ph.D., the Mari Hulman George Professor of Neuroscience Research at IU School of Medicine.

"Only NG2 glial cells were found to exhibit neurogenic potential in the spinal cord following injury in adult mice, but they failed to generate mature neurons. Interestingly, by elevating the critical transcription factor SOX2, the glia-to-neuron conversion is successfully achieved and accompanied with a reduced glial scar formation and increased functional recovery following spinal cord injury", says Wei Wu, Ph.D., a research associate in neurological surgery at IU School of Medicine and co-first author of the paper.

The conversion of the NG2 cells from the mouse model was driven with two purposes – generate neurons to replace those lost due to a spinal cord injury and reduce the size of the glial scars in the lesion area of the damaged tissue.

The study thus highlights the scope of neuronal remodeling and functional recovery after the successful conversion of glial cells into functional neurons. This serves as an important target in the future for potential treatments of spinal cord injury.

Source-Medindia