CHAPEL HILL, NC - United Press International disclosed U.S. scientists reported they have discovered key steps involved in regulating nerve growth and regeneration.  The University of North Carolina scientists said the finding could have important implications for spinal cord research.

It involves how nerve growth factor, or NGF, stimulates a sequence of proteins - a molecular pathway - which promotes nerve growth.  The process centers on axons, long tendrils which extend from nerve cells to form connections with other nerve cells, muscles, and the skin.  Injury to the peripheral nervous system - the nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord - typically results in spontaneous egeneration and repair.  This isn’t the case with the spinal cord, where disruption of connections from injury leads to paralysis.

The scientists found NGF stimulation occurred in the growth cone of the axon.  This simplified a complex problem which had eluded others who didn’t focus on the growth cone, they said.  In the molecular pathway they identified, NGF signals two proteins which, in turn, regulate another protein to assemble the axon from its building blocks called microtubules.

If a way can be found to control this process, it could result in spinal cord regeneration.