Implanting olfactory ensheathing glial cells into the spinal cords of paralyzed adult rats recently has been shown to promote neuronal cell repair and restore function. After transplantation, the rats were able to walk, even climb over complex terrain, and respond to touch and proprioception (stimuli originating in muscles and tendons) in their hind-limbs. These results are the most dramatic functional and histological repair yet achieved after complete spinal cord transection in adult mammals, and they open new avenues in the search for treatment of spinal cord injuries in other mammals, including humans. The leader of the group of scientists who achieved this, Dr. Almudena Ramon-Cueto, Institute of Biomedicine, Spanish Council for Scientific Research in Valencia, is one of a panel of experts speaking in New Orleans April 22 at an Experimental Biology 2002 American Association of Anatomists symposium on Olfactory Ensheathing Cells: Therapeutic Potential in Spinal Cord Injury. Chaired by Dr. Kathryn J. Jones, Loyola University in Chicago, the panel discusses the location and structure olfactory ensheathing cells, how they work, and why the best hope for restoring function in human spinal cord injury patients might well lie in their own noses.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 19: Language and Lateralization; Chapter 2: Functional Neuroanatomy: The Cells and Structure of the Nervous System
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 15: Language and Lateralization; Chapter 1: Cells and Structures: The Anatomy of the Nervous System
Link ID: 1953 - Posted: 04.25.2002

John Travis While cholesterol has a bad reputation for clogging up arteries and causing heart disease, this fatty molecule is an essential part of all cell membranes. Scientists have now found to their surprise that cholesterol may also regulate when and where nerve cells in the brain form the vital junctions known as synapses. Equally unforeseen, say investigators, is their finding that non-nerve cells called glia seem to provide the cholesterol that controls synapse building. Glia make up 90 percent of the cells in the brain, but they have traditionally drawn less interest than have nerve cells, or neurons, which relay electrical signals by releasing chemicals at synapses. Barres, B.A., and S.J. Smith. 2001. Cholesterol-Making or breaking the synapse. Science 294(Nov. 9):1296-1297. From Science News, Vol. 160, No. 20, Nov. 17, 2001, p. 309. Copyright ©2001 Science Service. All rights reserved.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 2: Functional Neuroanatomy: The Cells and Structure of the Nervous System
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 1: Cells and Structures: The Anatomy of the Nervous System
Link ID: 1009 - Posted: 11.17.2001

The axon is vital for cellular communication. Yet, in the adult spinal cord and brain these thin processes that jut out from nerve cells have trouble regenerating after an injury. The result is permanent impairments, such as a loss of movement. For years, scientists have searched to understand why axons refuse to rebuild. Now increasing research finds that a covering on the axon, termed myelin, is at least partly to blame. The discovery is helping researchers get closer to developing human treatments that could repair damage and restore function. After an unexpected detour on Saturday's bike ride, the gouged skin on your knee easily repairs itself. No such luck for your damaged spinal cord. Copyright © 2001 Society for Neuroscience. All rights reserved.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 2: Functional Neuroanatomy: The Cells and Structure of the Nervous System; Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 1: Cells and Structures: The Anatomy of the Nervous System; Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 896 - Posted: 11.01.2001

Nature Medicine, September 2001
Brain tumors, such as those that affect glial cells, are amongst the most lethal of all cancers. Oftentimes, before a cure or treatment for a disease can be developed, it is vital to understand the pathology underlying the disease. Now, scientists at New York Medical College have identified a mechanism by which gliomas spread rapidly through brain tissue and perhaps more importantly, drugs already exist that may be able to curb this spread. Maiken Nedergaard and colleagues have discovered that glioma tumor cells release the neurotransmitter glutamate, which carves a path of destruction through brain tissue allowing the tumor cells to advance. Compounds that block the release of glutamate, such as MK801, were able to slow the growth of tumors implanted in the brains of adult rats.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 2: Functional Neuroanatomy: The Cells and Structure of the Nervous System
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 1: Cells and Structures: The Anatomy of the Nervous System
Link ID: 509 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Researchers have the first evidence that cues that guide migrating nerve cells also direct white blood cells called leukocytes, which have to find their way to inflamed, infected or damaged areas of the body. The study is reported in the April 19 issue of Nature. "This similarity between the immune system and nervous system might suggest new therapeutic approaches to immune system disorders such as inflammation and autoimmune diseases," says Yi Rao, Ph.D., an associate professor of anatomy and neurobiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Wu JY, Feng L, Park H-T, Havlioglu N, Wen L, Tang H, Bacon KB, Jiang Z, Zhang X, Rao Y. The neuronal repellent Slit inhibits leukocyte chemotaxis induced by chemotactic factors. Nature, April 19, 2001.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 15: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 11: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Link ID: 256 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Sonic boom in oligodendrogenesis Heather Wood The signalling protein sonic hedgehog ( Shh) is pivotal to many aspects of vertebrate neural development, including dorsoventral patterning and specification of motor neurons and ventral interneurons. In the spinal cord, Shh also specifies oligodendrocytes, and Nery et al. have questioned whether it might have a similar role in the brain. As they report in Development, there is now evidence that Shh promotes oligodendrogenesis in the mammalian telencephalon. References and links ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER Nery , S. et al. Sonic hedgehog contributes to oligodendrocyte specification in the mammalian forebrain. Development 128, 527­540 ( 2001) PubMed FURTHER READING Rogister, B. et al. From neural stem cells to myelinating oligodendrocytes. Mol. Cell. Neurosci. 14, 287­300 (1999) PubMed WEB SITE Gordon Fishell's lab ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES Neuronal subtype identity regulation Nature © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2001 Registered No. 785998 England

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 7: Life-Span Development of the Brain and Behavior
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 4: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 218 - Posted: 10.20.2001

After decades of neglect by researchers more interested in know-it-all neurons, the brain cells classified as "glia" are getting some respect. They've been written off as support scaffolding for neurons or as caterers that provide nutrition. But now researchers have found that glia play an important role in setting up neural networks: They tell neurons to start talking to one another. Neurons send and receive messages through connections called synapses, points of near-contact where neurons swap chemical signals. The first indication that glia boost synaptic communication came in 1997, when a team led by neurobiologist Ben Barres of Stanford University reported that neurons grown near glial cells called astrocytes were 10 times as responsive as neurons grown alone. They just didn't know why. --LAURA HELMUTH Copyright © 2001 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 2: Functional Neuroanatomy: The Cells and Structure of the Nervous System
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 1: Cells and Structures: The Anatomy of the Nervous System
Link ID: 174 - Posted: 10.20.2001

A Way to Shrink Brain Tumors Patients with a particularly aggressive type of brain cancer typically don't have many treatment options. But a new technique tested in mice and rats might provide a tool to combat the lethal tumors, known as glioblastomas. The strategy is to deliver growth-suppressing drugs directly and sustainedly to the tumor. If it works in humans, the technique could prolong the lives of some brain cancer patients, and it might be applicable to other types of cancer as well. Glioblastomal tumors make up about one-quarter of the cases of brain cancer, and most patients survive for no more than 18 months past diagnosis. But the cancer's fast growth makes it a good candidate for tumor-shrinking compounds called angiogenesis inhibitors. These proteins, such as endostatin, inhibit the growth of blood vessels that the tumors need to grow and spread (ScienceNOW, 23 January 1997). Getting angiogenesis inhibitors into brain tumors and keeping them there, however, has been a problem. .... --JOHN S. MacNEIL Copyright © 2001 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 19: Language and Lateralization
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 15: Language and Lateralization
Link ID: 144 - Posted: 10.20.2001

The brain's glial cells are starting to take over some of the spotlight that was once only focused on the brain's neurons. Traditionally, glial cells were considered ho-hum supporting actors to the star neurons that communicate with one another to process our thoughts. Now, following a group of recent studies, researchers have found an increasing amount of evidence that suggests a category of glial cells, termed astrocytes, play an active role in brain function by affecting the activity of neurons. The findings are providing new insights into how the brain functions as well as new targets for clinical interventions. Copyright © 2000 Society for Neuroscience. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without permission of the Society for Neuroscience.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 2: Functional Neuroanatomy: The Cells and Structure of the Nervous System
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 1: Cells and Structures: The Anatomy of the Nervous System
Link ID: 133 - Posted: 10.20.2001