James Fawcett | PubMed Health

PubMed2005

Spinal cord regeneration.

Repairing the damaged spinal cord has for a long time eluded neuroscientists. Few other achievements in neuroscience would have such a tremendous impact amongst the medical profession and the public. Despite numerous efforts, no patient has yet benefited from a regeneration therapy. Recent advances in the basic science of axon regeneration have opened new doors of hope towards prevention and cure of the devastating effects of spinal cord injury (SCI), and treatments that could encourage a partial repair of spinal injury are imminent. This article reviews the impact of SCI on patients, the current reparative strategies being explored and their potential clinical applications.

Cell Transplantation↗

PubMed2003

Astrocytes in culture express fibrillar collagen.

The use of monoclonal antibodies has led to much progress in the characterization of extracellular matrix components of the CNS. F1C3 is a monoclonal antibody raised against the astrocytic cell line, Neu7. Analysis by immunoprecipitation and Western blots of the F1C3 antigen in Neu7 cell lysates and conditioned medium reveals a recognition of several protein bands around 140-230 kD. Internal peptide sequence data from these bands indicate that they are highly homologous to fibrillar collagens, and the F1C3 antigen is specifically digested by the collagenase I protease. Other glial cell lines show F1C3 antigen expression including A7, C6, and U373. Cultures of neonatal primary astrocytes also express F1C3 antigen, and Western blot analysis of rat brain extracts from different ages and parts of the brain confirm an in vivo expression of F1C3 protein. The significance of the expression of fibrillar collagen-like proteins by astrocytes is discussed together with its possible implication during developmental processes and in the context of CNS lesions and regeneration.

Animals↗