X-Message-Number: 24783 From: "Basie" <> Subject: severed spinal cord nerve fibres Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2004 20:29:13 -0400 >Professor Raisman's team at the NIMR has demonstrated that it is possible for severed spinal cord nerve fibres to grow back and restore lost functions, and has now moved to UCL with a view to transferring the technology from rats to humans, working with patients at the new Spinal Repair Unit within UCL. Professor Raisman was one of the first neuroscientists whose work raised the real possibility that spinal cord injuries, long considered incurable, could be repaired. His key discovery was that there is one part of the nervous system, a region in the nasal cavity concerned with the sense of smell, in which nerve fibres are in a state of continuous growth throughout adult life. Raisman's team transplanted cells from this region into the injured spinal cord of laboratory rats, and found that the cells had a remarkable capacity to integrate into the damaged pathways, laying a 'bridge' over the gap in the nerve fibres caused by injury. < References will be given on private request Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=24783