Turning scar-forming cells into neurons helps restore movement after spinal cord injury

What if cells that form scars after a spinal cord injury could become part of the repair process? Researchers have developed a genetic system that converts certain scar-forming cells into neurons, improving movement in mice and rats with spinal cord injuries.

A joint research team led by C. Justin Lee, director of the Center for Memory and Glioscience at the Institute for Basic Science, and Ha Yoon, a professor at Yonsei University College of Medicine, developed TRANsCre-DIONE, a system designed to selectively convert reactive astrocytes at an injury site into neurons.

The findings, published in the journal Experimental & Molecular Medicine, offer a potential new direction for spinal cord repair, although the approach has not been tested as a treatment in humans.

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