How the nervous system activates repair after spinal cord injury
After a spinal cord injury, cells in the brain and spinal cord change to cope with stress and repair tissue. A new study published in Nature Neuroscience, shows that this response is controlled by specific DNA sequences. This knowledge could help develop more targeted treatments.
When the central nervous system is damaged – for example, in a spinal cord injury – many cells become reactive. This means they change their function and activate genes that protect and repair tissue. However, how this process is regulated has long been unclear.
Researchers have now mapped thousands of so-called enhancers; small DNA sequences that act like ‘switches’ for genes, turning them on or boosting their activity.
By analysing individual cell nuclei from mice with spinal cord injuries using AI models, the researchers discovered that these genetic switches are activated after injury and instruct specific cell types to respond. T
Through in vivo enhancer screening, the researchers also demonstrate that injury-responsive enhancers can selectively target reactive astrocytes across the CNS using therapeutically relevant gene delivery vectors.
“We have shown how cells read these instructions through a code that tells them how to react to injury. This code combines signals from general stress factors with the cell’s own identity,” explains the researcher.
“This opens up the possibility of using the code to target treatments specifically to the cells affected by the injury,” says the first author of the study.
