by Julia Evangelou Strait – Washington University College of Medicine –
Detailed blueprint of nerve cells’ dramatic changes could help identify ways to heal spinal cord damage.
Zebrafish are members of a rarefied group of vertebrates capable of fully healing a severed spinal cord. A clear understanding of how this regeneration takes place could provide clues toward strategies for healing spinal cord injuries in people. Such injuries can be devastating, causing permanent loss of sensation and movement.
A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis maps out a detailed atlas of all the cells involved — and how they work together — in regenerating the zebrafish spinal cord.
