I read an interesting but slightly unclear Reuters article recently. It is
reproduced in part at the end of this post. Full article at
http://www.intelihealth.com/enews?206093
Ther way I read it, there are at least two possibilities: It could be that, in
a manner similar to the Parkinsons treatment, the researchers carried out a
graft of fetal tissue so that fetal neurons could make the appropriate
connections, restoring function to the auditory pathway. ( I think the need for
accuracy would be far greater in the auditory pathway, so this would be quite
an achievement).
Alternatively, I wondered if the following might be possible: They might have
surrounded the severed nerve with fetal glial cells, and it might have repaired
itself.
As I write, this strikes me as far too difficult to achieve, but I have heard
of something vaguely similar, so it might be a theoretical possibility.
- I recall reading about work where an avian optic nerve was severed. Under
normal circumstances this won't repair, when surrounded in vitro by glial
cells from a fish, the avian nerve fibres did regrow. ( Fish can regrow optic
nerves as a matter of course)
Does anyone know anything more about this?
Tony
...................................................................
Part of the original news article follows. (It has a prominent copyright notice
so I didn't want to print it in full)
Researchers at Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan
<...>
In their experiment, the researchers cut the VCTs of 50 adult rats.
Thirty of the rats were left as is, while the VCTs of the remaining 20
were covered with neural tissue transplanted from rat embryos.
<...>
"... successful regeneration was found in
6 (30%) of the 20 rats with embryonic tissue transplanted to the
transection site,"
<...>
According to the Japanese team, these cells may
promote regeneration through the production of growth factor compounds
and enzymes that "break down scar tissue barriers."
SOURCE: NeuroReport 1998;9:3815-3817.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.