PARIS, Oct. 7 (Benin News) –
Researchers from Imperial College London (UK) have shown that weekly treatments with an epigenetic activator can promote regeneration of sensory and motor neurons in the spinal cord when given to mice 12 weeks following severe injury , they report in the open access journal “PLOS Biology”.
Currently, spinal cord injuries have no effective treatment. Physical rehabilitation can help patients regain some mobility, but in severe cases the results are extremely limited due to the inability of spinal neurons to regenerate naturally following injury.
Building on their previous successes, the researchers used a small molecule called TTK21 to activate genetic programming that induces the regeneration of axons in neurons. TTK21 alters the epigenetic state of genes by activating the CBP/p300 family of coactivator proteins.
They tested TTK21 treatment in a mouse model with severe spinal cord injury. The mice lived in an enriched environment that gave them the opportunity to be physically active, as is encouraged in human patients.
Treatment began 12 weeks following severe spinal cord injury and lasted 10 weeks. The researchers found several improvements following TTK21 treatment compared to the control treatment. The most noticeable effect was the increased growth of axons in the spinal cord.
They also found that motor axon retraction above the point of injury stopped, and sensory axon growth increased. These changes were probably due to the observed increase in the expression of regeneration-related genes.
The next step will be to reinforce these effects and have the regenerated axons reconnect to the rest of the nervous system so that the animals regain their ability to move with ease.
Study leader Simone Di Giovanni of Imperial College London notes that “this work shows that a drug called TTK21, given systemically once a week following chronic spinal cord injury (CML ) in animals, can promote the regrowth of neurons and the increase of synapses necessary for neuronal transmission”.
“This is important because chronic spinal cord injury is an incurable condition in which neural growth and repair fail,” he explains. We are currently studying the possibility of combining this drug with spinal cord bypass strategies, such as biomaterials, to improve the disability of patients with CML.
