Scientists re-grow cut spinal cord
In a world first, Australian researchers recently discovered a mechanism for enhancing regrowth of spinal cord nerves after they are damaged, restoring the ability to walk in mice within weeks of a spinal cord injury.
The University of Melbourne research team (pictured right), led by Dr Ann Turnley (BSc (Hons) 1989, PhD 1992) at the Centre for Neuroscience and Professor Mary Galea (BA 1987, PhD 1992, GDip Epid & Biostat 2004) at the School of Physiotherapy, found that removal of a molecule called EphA4 resulted in significant regrowth of the spinal nerves following injury. Mice without EphA4 regained 100 per cent of their initial stride length within three weeks of the injury and by one month had regained ankle and toe movement. Their ability to bear weight on the affected limbs, to walk and climb also improved and continued to do so for at least three months after the injury. |
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Anatomical analysis revealed that a large percentage of the spinal cord
nerves had managed to grow across the damaged area of the spinal cord.
“This research has a real chance of providing a meaningful benefit for people with spinal injuries,” said Head of the Centre for Neuroscience, Professor Trevor Kilpatrick (MBBS 1982, PhD 1993).
Findings of the study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, were the work of PhD student Yona Goldshmit in collaboration with Professor Perry Bartlett, Director of the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland and formerly at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.
Dr Yona Goldshmit, who recently finished her PhD, was awarded a SpinalCure Australia Fellowship for her groundbreaking research. The award, worth $300,000 over three years, will enable Dr Goldshmit to continue her pioneering work into the role of the molecule EphA4 in spinal cord injury.
A director of SpinalCure Australia, Mr Gary Allsop, presented Dr Goldshmit with the award at the University of Melbourne in April. She will now work to develop methods for blocking the action of EphA4 in normal mice in the hope that this will eventually translate to humans and enable human spinal nerves to grow back across a severed spinal cord.
“This award is vital for allowing our research to continue and we hope to make considerable progress over the next three years,” Dr Goldshmit said.
Originally from Israel, Dr Goldshmit was a physiotherapist working
with people with spinal and head injuries, a focus she decided on due
to a cousin’s spinal cord injury. She decided to come to Australia
to pursue a PhD. Her research focussed
on repair of brain and spinal cord injuries and included a series of
studies in 2004–05 focusing on regulatory mechanisms on neuronal
cellular growth.
Dean of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, Professor James Angus, said this research was particularly exciting as it came out of an interdisciplinary research partnership within the Faculty.
For more information about medical and health research at the University of Melbourne, visit www.mdhs.unimelb.edu.au
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