Credit: IU School of Medicine
Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have successfully reprogrammed a glial cell type in the central nervous system into new neurons to promote recovery after spinal cord injury revealing an untapped potential to leverage the cell for regenerative medicine.
The group of investigators published their findings March 5 in
Cell Stem Cell. This is the first time scientists have reported modifying a NG2 glia a type of supporting cell in the central nervous system into functional neurons after spinal cord injury, said Wei Wu, PhD, research associate in neurological surgery at IU School of Medicine and co-first author of the paper.