PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

'Zombie cells' hold clues to spinal cord injury repair

'Zombie cells' hold clues to spinal cord injury repair
2021-07-06
(Press-News.org) Mammals have a poor ability to recover after a spinal cord injury which can result in paralysis. A main reason for this is the formation of a complex scar associated with chronic inflammation that produces a cellular microenvironment that blocks tissue repair. Now, a research team led by Leonor Saude, group leader at Instituto de Medicina Molecular Joao Lobo Antunes (iMM; Portugal) and Professor at Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, have shown that the administration of drugs that target specific cellular components of this scar, improve functional recovery after injury. The results now published in the scientific journal Cell Reports* set the basis for a new promising therapeutic strategy not only for spinal cord injuries, but potentially for other organs that lack regenerative competence.

This study was performed at iMM with collaboration from researchers at CEDOC NOVA Medical School and was funded by "la Caixa" Foundation - CaixaResearch Call and Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (Portugal).

Leonor Saude and her team have been studying spinal cord injury using two different models: the zebrafish, where there is spinal injury recovery, and mammals that show poor recovery. The dense scar that forms at the lesion site has been of particular interest. In mammals, upon spinal cord injury, researchers observed that cells start to accumulate at the lesion periphery. But not any cells: "These cells are known as senescent cells. They have specific features and markers and are what we can call "zombie cells", where growth and division is interrupted, but where the normal cell death program is not activated", explains Leonor Saude.

"While in zebrafish, the accumulation of these cells at the injury periphery is cleared out over time, in mammals, these cells persist and are important components of the dense scar observed. Because senescent cells have specific molecular markers, there are specific drugs that could be tested in this context", says Diogo Paramos-de-Carvalho, first author of the study. "With the administration of different senolytic drugs, that specifically target these senescent cells, we have observed a progressive decrease of these cells, a decrease in the scar extension and lower levels of inflammation due to a decreased secretion of pro-fibrotic and pro-inflammatory factors. The observed changes at the molecular level underlie the improved locomotor, sensory and bladder functions that we have also found", explains Isaura Martins, also first author of the study.

"Although we are still far from healing spinal cord injuries in humans, we are learning more about the molecular signatures of these lesions and these new promising results can open new therapeutic strategies that can be applied not only to spinal cord injuries but in other conditions that lack regenerative competence", says Leonor Saude.

INFORMATION:

*Diogo Paramos-de-Carvalho*, Isaura Martins*, Ana Margarida Cristóvão, Ana Filipa Dias, Dalila Neves-Silva, Telmo Pereira, Diana Chapela, Ana Farinho, António Jacinto, Leonor Saude. (2021) Targeting senescent cells improves functional recovery after spinal cord injury. Cell Reports.


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
'Zombie cells' hold clues to spinal cord injury repair

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

The brain's wiring technicians

The brains wiring technicians
2021-07-06
From the bark of a puppy to the patter of rain against the window, our brains receive countless signals every second. Most of the time, we tune out inconsequential cues--the buzz of a fly, the soft rustle of leaves in the tree--and pay attention to important ones--the sound of a car horn, a bang on the door. This allows us to function, navigate and, indeed, survive in the world around us. The brain's remarkable ability to sift through this ceaseless flow of information is enabled by an intricate neural network made up of billions of synapses, specialized junctions that regulate signal transmission between and ...

Missing bile ducts offer clues to mechanism of liver injury

2021-07-06
PITTSBURGH, July 6, 2021 - Scientists from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine described a new phenomenon in which the deletion of a single gene involved in liver embryogenesis completely wipes out bile ducts of newborn mice. But despite a major defect in their bile excretion system, those animals don't die immediately after birth. Rather, they survive for up to eight months and remain physically active, if small and yellow-tinted. Published today in the journal Cell Reports, the finding offers clues as to why some patients with cholestasis--or impaired ...

Diabetes care, glycemic control during pandemic in US

2021-07-06
What The Study Did: Rates at which patients with type 2 diabetes received diabetes-related health services prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic are compared in this study. Authors: Ateev Mehrotra, M.D., M.P.H., of Harvard Medical School in Boston, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2021.3047) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, ...

Evaluation of messenger RNA from COVID-19 vaccines in human milk

2021-07-06
What The Study Did: COVID-19 vaccine-associated messenger RNA (mRNA) wasn't detected in 13 human milk samples collected after vaccination from seven breastfeeding mothers. Authors: Stephanie L. Gaw, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.1929) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict ...

Seroprevalence, risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection in health care workers in Italy early in pandemic

2021-07-06
What The Study Did: This study in the Lombardy region of Italy examined the association of different health care professional categories and operational units, including in-hospital wards and outpatient facilities, with the seroprevalence of positive IgG antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2 and the likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Authors: Piero Poletti, Ph.D., of the Bruno Kessler Foundation in Trento, Italy, and Marcello Tirani, M.D., Directorate General for Health, Lombardy region, in Milan, are the corresponding authors. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.15699) Editor's Note: The article includes ...

Association of travel distance to nearest abortion facility with rates of abortion

2021-07-06
What The Study Did: This national analysis examined the association between the travel distance to the nearest abortion care facility and abortion rate and the effect of reduced travel distance. Authors: Kirsten M. J. Thompson, M.P.H., of the University of California, San Francisco, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.15530) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional ...

Comparing spending on common generic drugs by Medicare vs Costco members

2021-07-06
What The Study Did: The amount Medicare pays for common generic prescriptions in Part D was compared with prices available to patients without insurance at Costco. Authors: Erin Trish, Ph.D., of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2021.3366) Editor's Note: The article includes conflicts of interest disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support. INFORMATION: Media advisory: The full study is linked ...

Researchers discover way to improve immune response

2021-07-06
Melbourne researchers have identified a way to improve the immune response in the face of severe viral infections. It is widely known that severe viral infections and cancer cause impairments to the immune system, including to T cells, a process called immune 'exhaustion'. Overcoming immune exhaustion is a major goal for the development of new therapies for cancer or severe viral infections. A team from the Peter Doherty Institute of Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute) led by University of Melbourne's Dr Sarah Gabriel, Dr Daniel Utzschneider and Professor Axel Kallies has been able to identify why immune exhaustion occurs and how this may be overcome. The team had previously identified that while some T cells ...

New signaling pathway could shed light on damage repair during brain injury

New signaling pathway could shed light on damage repair during brain injury
2021-07-06
Most human cells are able to repair damage by dividing at wounds. But mature nerve cells (neurons) in our brain are different. If they attempt division, they will likely die - and this is what happens during brain injury, or in conditions such as Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Now new research led by the University of Plymouth has uncovered a pathway that has shed new light on how these divisions may be triggered. The research, published today in Cell Reports, has focused on intracellular structures called microtubules - which are found in most animal cells, and can be damaged by a build-up of a protein called Tau in the brain during AD. The study was conducted in fruit flies, with comparison to postmortem brain samples ...

The twinkle and the brain

2021-07-06
Can you remember the smell of flowers in your grandmother's garden or the tune your grandpa always used to whistle? Some childhood memories are seemingly engrained into your brain. In fact, there are critical periods in which the brain learns and saves profound cognitive routines and memories. The structure responsible for saving them is called the perineuronal net. This extracellular structure envelops certain neurons, thereby stabilizes existing connections - the synapses - between them and prevents new ones from forming. But what if we could remove the perineuronal net and restore the adaptability of a young brain? The neuroscientist Sandra Siegert and her research group at IST Austria now ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

C-Path announces key leadership appointments in neurodegenerative disease research

First-of-its-kind analysis of U.S. national data reveals significant disparities in individual well-being as measured by lifespan, education, and income

Exercise programs help cut new mums’ ‘baby blues’ severity and major depression risk

Gut microbiome changes linked to onset of clinically evident rheumatoid arthritis

Signals from the gut could transform rheumatoid arthritis treatment

Pioneering research reveals some of the world’s least polluting populations are at much greater risk of flooding fuelled by climate change

UK’s health data should be recognized as critical national infrastructure, says independent review

A 36-gene predictive score of anti-cancer drug resistance anticipates cancer therapy outcomes

Someone flirts with your spouse. Does that make your partner appear more attractive?

Hourglass-shaped stent could ease severe chest pain from microvascular disease

United Nations ratifies framework to protect people on cash app

Oklahoma State basketball team joins the Nation of Lifesavers

Power of aesthetic species on social media boosts wildlife conservation efforts, say experts

Researchers develop robotic sensory cilia that monitor internal biomarkers to detect and assess airway diseases

Could crowdsourcing hold the key to early wildfire detection?

Reconstruction of historical seasonal influenza patterns and individual lifetime infection histories in humans based on antibody profiles

New study traces impact of COVID-19 pandemic on global movement and evolution of seasonal flu

Presenting a Janus channel of membranes for complete oil-and-water separation

COVID-19 restrictions altered global dispersal of influenza viruses

Disconnecting hepatic vagus nerve restores balance to liver and brain circadian clocks, reducing overeating in mice

Mechanosensory origins of “wet dog shakes” – a tactic used by many hairy mammals – uncovered in mice

New study links liver-brain communication to daily eating patterns

Defense or growth – How plants allocate resources

Study identifies hip implant materials with the lowest risk of needing revision

Study reveals how plants grow thicker, not just taller

Insect-killing fungi find unexpected harmony in war

Unlocking predictors of success in treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

New PFAS removal process aims to stamp out pollution ahead of semiconductor industry growth

Researchers identify reduction in heart failure-related risk factors following metabolic surgery

The Kenneth H. Cooper Institute at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center unveiled in Dallas

[Press-News.org] 'Zombie cells' hold clues to spinal cord injury repair