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Nervous Stress
13 December 2015

Nervous Stress

People with major back injuries may be permanently paralysed because the neurons in the spinal cord can’t regenerate – unlike the peripheral neurons in other parts of the body. The ability of these neurons to self-repair is being studied by scientists, who recently discovered a master gene, called HIF-1α, which triggers growth factors when activated by low oxygen levels in stress conditions. In experiments on mice, damaged neurons started to regrow after oxygen in the animals’ air supply was reduced for short periods. Pictured are sections of sciatic nerve, showing nerve fibres, unstained and stained blue, regenerating to the right of the damaged area (dotted line). The repair process is more advanced in the sections from a normal mouse, pictured at the top, which is evident from higher levels of a neuron growth protein, SCG10 (stained yellow) than those at the bottom, from a mouse genetically engineered to lack HIF-1α.

Written by Mick Warwicker

Published in Neuron, October 2015

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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