New Clues for Healing Spinal Cord Injuries Found in Single-Cell Studies in Zebrafish

Posted onSeptember 5th, 2024byDr. Monica M. Bertagnolli

Each year in the U.S. there are about 18,000 newspinal cord injuries, which damage the bundle of nerves and nerve fibers that send signals from the brain to other parts of the body and can affect feeling, movement, strength, and function below the injured site. A severe spinal cord injury can lead to immediate and permanent paralysis, as our spinal cords lack the capacity to regenerate the damaged tissues and heal.

So far, even the most groundbreaking regenerative therapies have yielded only modest improvements after spinal cord injuries. Now, an NIH-supported study reported inNature Communicationsoffers some new clues that may one day lead to ways to encourage healing of spinal cord injuries in people. The researchers uncovered these clues through detailed single-cell analysis in what might seem an unlikely place: the zebrafish spinal cord.