New pathways identified in restricting CNS axonal regeneration

A research team from Yale University (CT, USA) has identified a gene that, when eliminated, could potentially spur regeneration of axons in nerve cells severed by spinal cord injury.  In the study, which was recently published in Cell Reports, researchers conducted a genome-wide in vitro axon regeneration screen in primary mouse cortical neurons to identify factors limiting axonal regeneration. By knocking down 16,007 individual genes, the team identified 580 significant phenotypes. “For the first time, the limits on nerve fiber regeneration were studied in an unbiased way across nearly all genes,” commented Stephen Strittmatter (Yale University), the senior author of...