Worm gene

Worm gene offers clues to nerve cell repair

Researchers found a prospective way to regenerate nerves by stimulating a gene and they hope their work in worms may some day help people with spinal cord injuries. The gene is part of a network or pathway of 4 genes that appear to be essential for nerve repair. In humans, nerve fibers in the arms and legs can regenerate, but in the brain and spinal cord, they do not. Many teams are working to understand why. They found a gene called dlk-1 was essential to the process at every stage of the worm's life. When they used genetic engineering to block this gene network, the worms were unable to repair nerve damage. But when they stimulated the gene making it more active than normal worms with damaged nerves recovered much more quickly.Curiously, this network of genes is not used by the nervous system during normal development in the embryo, but it is essential for nerve repair after birth. Many teams have been working on finding ways to block proteins that inhibit nerve repair in adults.
Last year, a team at Children's Hospital Boston reported in the journal Science they were able to stimulate nerve regeneration in mice with damaged optic nerves by turning off proteins that keep adult nerve cells from growing. A separate team from the biotechnology firm Genentech Inc was able to stimulate nerve regeneration by blocking chemical signals that create a hostile environment for nerve repair.