The development of an in vitro model of CNS injury to identify factors which promote repair.

脊髓损伤会导致瘫痪和感觉丧失，因为损伤下方的大脑和脊髓之间的通讯中断。这些缺陷是永久性的，因为中枢神经系统一旦受损，就几乎没有修复的能力。中枢神经系统由神经细胞(神经元)和被称为神经胶质的特殊支持细胞组成，神经胶质可以促进神经的生长，并为它们提供绝缘的保护鞘(髓鞘)。来自不同实验室的越来越多的报告提供了证据，表明将胶质细胞移植到脊髓鳕鱼损伤提供了一种有希望的促进损伤脊髓功能恢复的方法。然而，最近很明显的是，单靠细胞移植并不足以促进功能再生，而将细胞移植与其他方法相结合，例如。生长因子和减少损伤后脊髓中抑制分子的药物可能更成功。对多种治疗方法组合的研究将涉及到使用许多动物。出于这个原因，我们希望建立一个脊髓损伤的体外模型，建立在我们已经获得的初步数据的基础上(即在试管中)，这使得我们能够研究完整的有髓轴突。我们希望切断这些轴突，看看它们是否会再生。此外，我们希望添加能够促进修复的细胞或试剂，使我们能够在不使用大量动物的情况下，在培养中研究联合治疗方法。从这些调查中获得的信息将对脊髓损伤治疗的合理设计取得进展有价值。

Spinal cord injury results in paralysis and loss of sensation because of the interruption of communication between the brain and spinal cord below the injury. These deficits are permanent because the CNS, once damaged has little capacity for repair. The CNS is made up of nerve cells (neurons) and specialised support cells called glia which can promote the growth of nerves and provide them with an insulating protective sheath (myelin). There have been a growing number of reports from different laboratories providing evidence that transplants of glia into spinal cod injury provides a promising means of promoting return of function to the injured spinal cord. However more recently it is apparent that cell transplantation alone is not sufficient to promote functional regeneration and that combining cell transplantation with other approaches, eg. growth factors, and agents that reduce the inhibitory molecules in the spinal cord after injury may be more successful. The study of a combination of treatments would involve the use of many animals. For this reason we would like to establish an in vitro model of spinal cord injury building on preliminary data we have acquired on a culture system (ie in test tubes) that allows us to study intact myelinated axons. We wish to cut these axons and see if they will regenerate. Furthermore we wish to add cells, or reagents that could promote repair and allow us to then study combined treatments in culture without the use of large numbers of animals. Information gained in these investigations will be valuable in making progress towards the rational design of treatments for spinal cord injury.