Myelin repair

Spinal cord injury (SCI) usually induces profound microvascular dysfunction. It disrupts the integrity of the blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB), which could trigger a cascade of secondary pathological events that manifest as neuronal apoptosis and axonal demyelination. These events can further lead to irreversible neurological impairments. Thus, reducing the permeability of the BSCB and maintaining its substructural integrity are essential to promote neuronal survival following SCI. Tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) has emerged as a potential protective agent for treating the BSCB after SCI...

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is associated with high mortality and disability rates, and secondary white matter injury is an important cause of poor prognosis. However, whether brain capillary pericytes can directly affect the differentiation and maturation of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) and subsequently affect white matter injury repair has still been revealed. This study was designed to investigate the effect of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-3 (TIMP-3) for OPC differentiation and maturation...

Microglia and oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) are critical glia subsets in the central nervous system (CNS) and are actively engaged in a body of diseases, such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, etc. Microglia and OPC serve as compelling tools for the study of CNS diseases as well as the repair and damage of myelin sheath in vitro. In this protocol, we summarized a method which is capable of using the same batch of new-born mice to isolate and culture microglia and OPCs. It integrates the characteristics of practicality, convenience, and efficiency, providing a convenient, easy, and reliable technique for research...

PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate the potential of stromal vascular fraction (SVF) for peripheral nerve regeneration. METHODS: A scoping review of Scopus and PubMed databases was conducted. Inclusion criteria were human or animal studies exploring the use of SVF for peripheral nerve regeneration. Studies were categorized by assessed outcomes: pain assessment, neural integrity, muscle recovery, and functional recovery. Level of evidence and study quality were assessed...

Treating severe peripheral nerve injuries is difficult. Nerve repair with conduit small gap tubulization is a treatment option but still needs to be improved. This study aimed to assess the use of microgels containing growth factors, along with chitosan-based conduits, for repairing nerves. Using the water-oil emulsion technique, microgels of methacrylic alginate (AlgMA) that contained vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were prepared. The effects on rat Schwann cells (RSC96) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were evaluated...

Repair strategies for injured peripheral nerve have achieved great progresses in recent years. However, the clinical outcomes remain unsatisfactory. Recent studies have found that exosomes secreted by dental pulp stem cells (DPSC-exos) have great potential for applications in nerve repair. In this study, we evaluated the effects of human DPSC-exos on improving peripheral nerve regeneration. Initially, we established a coculture system between DPSCs and Schwann cells (SCs) in vitro to assess the effect of DPSC-exos on the activity of embryonic dorsal root ganglion neurons (DRGs) growth in SCs...

Astrocytes, the most prevalent cells in the central nervous system (CNS), can be transformed into neurons and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) using specific transcription factors and some chemicals. In this study, we present a cocktail of small molecules that target different signaling pathways to promote astrocyte conversion to OPCs. Astrocytes were transferred to an OPC medium and exposed for five days to a small molecule cocktail containing CHIR99021, Forskolin, Repsox, LDN, VPA and Thiazovivin before being preserved in the OPC medium for an additional 10 days...

Clinical, pathological, and imaging evidence in multiple sclerosis (MS) suggests that a smoldering inflammatory activity is present from the earliest stages of the disease and underlies the progression of disability, which proceeds relentlessly and independently of clinical and radiological relapses (PIRA). The complex system of pathological events driving "chronic" worsening is likely linked with the early accumulation of compartmentalized inflammation within the central nervous system as well as insufficient repair phenomena and mitochondrial failure...

Nerve guidance conduits (NGCs) have been widely developed using various materials for the functional repair of injured or diseased peripheral nerves. Especially, hydrogels are considered highly suitable for the fabrication of NGCs due to their beneficial tissue-mimicking characteristics (e.g., high water content, softness, and porosity). However, the practical applications of hydrogel-based NGCs are hindered due to their poor mechanical properties and complicated fabrication processes. To bridge this gap, we herein developed a novel double-network (DN) hydrogel using alginate and gelatin by a two-step crosslinking process involving chemical-free gamma irradiation and ionic crosslinking...

Peripheral nerve injuries (PNIs) can cause neuropathies and significantly affect the patient's quality of life. Autograft transplantation is the gold standard for conventional treatment; however, its application is limited by nerve unavailability, size mismatch, and local tissue adhesion. Tissue engineering, such as nerve guidance conduits, is an alternative and promising strategy to guide nerve regeneration for peripheral nerve repair; however, only a few conduits could reach the high repair efficiency of autografts...

Spared regions of the damaged central nervous system undergo dynamic remodeling and exhibit a remarkable potential for therapeutic exploitation. Here, lesion-remote astrocytes (LRAs), which interact with viable neurons, glia and neural circuitry, undergo reactive transformations whose molecular and functional properties are poorly understood. Using multiple transcriptional profiling methods, we interrogated LRAs from spared regions of mouse spinal cord following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). We show that LRAs acquire a spectrum of molecularly distinct, neuroanatomically restricted reactivity states that evolve after SCI...

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The repairment of myelin sheaths is crucial for mitigating neurological impairments of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). However, the current research on remyelination processes in ICH remains limited. A representative traditional Chinese medicine, Buyang Huanwu decoction (BYHWD), shows a promising therapeutic strategy for ICH treatment. AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate the pro-remyelination effects of BYHWD on ICH and explore the underlying mechanisms...

Spinal cord injury (SCI), a fatal condition, is characterized by progressive tissue degradation and extreme functional deficits with limited treatment options. Hesperetin, a natural flavonoid with potent antioxidant, antiapoptotic and anti-inflammatory properties, has yet to be systematically investigated for its therapeutic effects on neurological damage in rat models of SCI. In this study, rats were given oral hesperetin once daily for 28 days, and their locomotion and histopathological changes were assessed...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) due to a direct blow or penetrating injury to the head damages the brain tissue and affects brain function. Primary and secondary damage to the brain tissue increases disability, morbidity, and mortality and costs millions of dollars in treatment. Injury to the brain tissue results in the activation of various inflammatory and repair pathways involving many cellular and molecular factors. Increased infiltration of immune cells to clear the debris and lesion healing, activation of Schwann cells, myelination, oligodendrocyte formation, and axonal regeneration occur after TBI to regenerate the tissue...

Repairing spinal cord injury (SCI) is a global medical challenge lacking effective clinical treatment. Developing human-engineered spinal cord tissues that can replenish lost cells and restore a regenerative microenvironment offers promising potential for SCI therapy. However, creating vascularized human spinal cord-like tissues that mimic the diverse cell types and longitudinal parallel structural features of spinal cord tissues remains a significant hurdle. In present study, vascularized spinal cord tissues (VSCT) were engineered using embryonic human spinal cord-derived neural cells and endothelial cells on linear ordered collagen scaffolds (LOCS)...

INTRODUCTION: The subventricular zone promotes remyelination through activation differentiation of oligodendroglial precursor cells (OPCs) and neural stem cells (NSCs) into mature oligodendrocytes and thus in the adult brain. In Multiple Sclerosis (MS) this regenerative capability in halted resulting in neurodegeneration. We aimed to systematically search and synthesize evidence on mechanisms and phenomena associated with SVZ dysfunction in MS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our systematic review was reported according to the PRISMA-ScR statement...

Our previous studies have shown that early exercise intervention after stroke increases neural activity and synaptic plasticity and promotes the recovery of nerve fiber bundle integrity in the brain. However, the effect of exercise on the repair of myelin in the brain and the related mechanism are still unclear. In this study, we randomly divided the rats into three groups. Before and after 28 days of intervention, body weight, nerve function, the infarct size, white matter fiber bundle integrity, and nerve myelin structure and function were observed by measuring body weight, analysis of modified neurological severity score, CatWalk gait analysis, MRI, luxol fast blue staining, immunofluorescence, and transmission electron microscopy...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy (CSM), the most common cause of spinal cord dysfunction globally, is a degenerative disease that results in non-violent, gradual, and long-lasting compression of the cervical spinal cord. The objective of this study was to investigate whether microvascular proliferation could positively affect neural function recovery in experimental cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). METHODS: A total of 60 male adult Sprague-Dawley (SD) were randomly divided into four groups: Control (CON), Compression (COM), Angiostasis (AS), and Angiogenesis (A G),with 15 rats in each group...

BACKGROUND: Treating peripheral nerve injuries (PNI) with defects remains challenging in clinical practice. The commercial conduits have shown suboptimal nerve regeneration and functional recovery due to their basic tubular design without electroactive and oriented topographical cues. PURPOSE: To develop a new scaffold with oriented microstructure and electroactive Graphene oxide (GO) and investigate its' therapeutic effect on nerve regeneration in vitro and in vivo...

Regeneration in the injured spinal cord is limited by physical and chemical barriers. Acute implantation of a multichannel poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLG) bridge mechanically stabilizes the injury, modulates inflammation, and provides a permissive environment for rapid cellularization and robust axonal regrowth through this otherwise inhibitory milieu. However, without additional intervention, regenerated axons remain largely unmyelinated (<10%), limiting functional repair. While transplanted human neural stem cells (hNSC) myelinate axons after spinal cord injury (SCI), hNSC fate is highly influenced by the SCI inflammatory microenvironment, also limiting functional repair...