This finding has implications for research on restoring mobility
to people who have lost motor functions due to spinal cord
injury, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, and other
central nervous system disorders. "The failure of surviving
neurons to reestablish functional connection is most obvious
after spinal cord injury, but limited nerve cell regeneration
and plasticity is central to a range of neurological disorders,
including stroke, head trauma, multiple sclerosis, and
neurodegenerative disease," said senior author Stephen
Strittmatter, professor in the Departments of Neurology and
Neurobiology. "Recovery of motor function after serious damage
to the mature brain is facilitated by structural and synaptic
plasticity." Strittmatter's laboratory studies how myelin in the
central nervous system physically limits axonal growth and
regeneration after traumatic and ischemic injury, when blood
supply is cut off. A physiological role for the myelin inhibitor
pathway has not been defined. Blocking vision in