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Enzyme Found To Help Formation of New Axons
Greg George writes "Researchers at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology have announced that they have found an enzyme that helps nerves to grow in areas damaged after trauma. In typical injuries, scar tissue forms around the damage point and the body removes the tissue so that new muscle and nerves can regrow in the damaged area. In spinal cord injuries, scar tissue forms and that is the end of the story. Special chemicals form that stop the body's cells from moving in and removing the scar tissue and then allowing the healing process to start. Studies have been done attempting to bypass the scar tissue, but none has been successful in large-scale repair of injured muscle and nerves in the spinal column. The researchers for this paper have found that sugar proteins near the damage point stop the healing and that an enzyme can be used to break down these proteins so that the body can then begin repairs. The enzyme, chondroitinase ABC (chABC), is sensitive to heat, and breaks down quickly in a human body. To stop that process they found that by replacing the ABC with another sugar called trehalose, they were able to stabilize the ABC, allowing it to break down scar tissue over a large area. The gel formed by these sugars is stable for up to six weeks in the bodies of test animals, allowing the research team to inject growth factors that increased the healing, to the point that the animals started to use their limbs again. The work is still in the beginning stages." Reuters reporting adds a few more details: "...many other approaches will be needed to repair spinal cord injuries in humans, including controlling inflammation, which can cause additional injury, stimulating nerve fiber growth, and getting nerves to reconnect and communicate with the brain."
Oh Christopher Reeve,
Why did you leave,
Dr. Scientist has arrived with a trick up his sleeve!
Researchers at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology have announced that they have found an enzyme that helps nerves to grow in areas damaged after trauma.
I can finally be free of the mental image of goatse!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is a great breakthrough and it provides a new understanding and all that. But fundamentally these kind of enzymes and stuff coax the body into healing itself and so their effectiveness is quite limited. Better to go with bio-interfaced electronics. I once saw a documentary where this guy was almost totally burnt in a volcano. The scientists were able to replace all the lost limbs with mechanical, cornea and trachea with mechanical components, a black helmet and a black cape and he was almost as good as new. Cool thing was, though he was modded so heavily, he still had enough mitachloreans and retained almost all the Force he had to begin with. Amazing. I tell you.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Digg is full of Apple queers, but the topic of micropenises NEVER comes up there.
Why would queers be interested in micropenises?
If you want more scientists today, start by changing culture 20 years ago.
I'll get right on that as soon as all the money I've been dumping into time-travel research pays off.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
Elephants will defend their young, injured, elderly, and even corpses from predators and scavengers
They must taste really good. If I tasted really good, I wouldn't want anybody finding out either.
Oh shit—
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
No, you have to: /lib/modules/*
sudo chABC -R
sudo mkinitnerves --all --spinal
then reboot
This is why neuroscience just isn't ready for the masses