MONDAY, May 15 (HealthDay News) -- A naturally occurring, previously unrecognized growth factor called oncomodulin stimulates regeneration in injured nerves of the eye, a new study finds.
The finding could lead to new ways to treat blindness caused by optic nerve damage and even injuries of the spinal cord and brain.
Oncomodulin stimulates growth of injured nerve fibers (axons) in the central nervous system, which consists of the brain, spinal cord and eyes. Under normal circumstances, most axons in the central nervous system cannot regrow once they've been damaged.
But researchers at Children's Hospital Boston said that they had added oncomodulin to retinal nerve cells in a Petri dish and found that axon growth nearly doubled. The team then tested the growth factor in rats with optic nerve injury. They found a 5- to 7-fold increase in axon growth when oncomodulin was given along with a drug that helps cells respond to the growth factor.
The scientists also showed that oncomodulin switches on a number of genes associated with axon growth. The Boston team now plans to test whether the growth factor also works on the types of brain cells that would be potential targets in treating stroke and spinal cord injury.
The findings appeared in the May 14 online edition of Nature Neuroscience.
The study received funding from Boston Life Sciences Inc., which has licensed the oncomodulin technology.
More information
The U.S. National Library of Medicine has information about optic nerve atrophy.
-- Robert Preidt
SOURCE: Children's Hospital Boston, news release, May 14, 2006
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