Clearing obstacles on the road to recovery

A research team led by Aya Takeoka (NERF, empowered by IMEC, KU Leuven, and VIB) has uncovered that specific types of nerve cells in the spinal cord undergo a switch after injury. This switch turns off communication with motor neurons that stimulate muscles and, therefore movement. Importantly, research in mice suggests that reversing this switch can dramatically improve functional recovery, especially in combination with physical training. The findings offer important insights for rehabilitation strategies for paraplegic patients and are published today in Nature Neuroscience.

Read the full story on the Takeoka lab’s NERF Website.

Bertels et al., Neurotransmitter phenotype switching by spinal excitatory interneurons regulates locomotor recovery after spinal cord injury. Nature Neuroscience, 2022.