New way to enhance nerve growth following injury discovered April 22, 2014 | by Editor - See more at: http://www.neuroscientistnews.com/research-news/new-way-enhance-nerve-growth-following-injury-discovered#sthash.fS6iYDZZ.dpuf

New research published today out of the University of Calgary's Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) uncovers a mechanism to promote growth in damaged nerve cells as a means to restore connections after injury. Dr. Doug Zochodne and his team have discovered a key molecule that directly regulates nerve cell growth in the damaged nervous system. His study was published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications, with lead authors Drs. Kim Christie and Anand Krishnan.

"We made the surprising discovery that a protein called Retinoblastoma (Rb) is present in adult neurons," explains Zochodne. "This protein appears to normally act as a brake – preventing nerve growth. What we have shown is that by inactivating Rb, we can release the brake and coax nerves to grow much faster," says Zochodne, a professor in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences.

Zochodne and his team decided to look for Rb in nerve cells because of its known role in regulating cell growth elsewhere in the body.

- See more at: http://www.neuroscientistnews.com/research-news/new-way-enhance-nerve-growth-following-injury-discovered#sthash.fS6iYDZZ.dpuf


Read more here:

http://www.neuroscientistnews.com/research-news/new-way-enhance-nerve-growth-following-injury-discovered

Task-Specific and General Cognitive Effects in Chiari Malformation Type I Philip A. Allen mail, James R. Houston, Joshua W. Pollock, Christopher Buzzelli, Xuan Li, A. Katherine Harrington, Bryn A. Martin, Francis Loth, Mei-Ching Lien, Jahangir Maleki, Mark G. Luciano Published: April 15, 2014DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0094844

Abstract

Objective

Our objective was to use episodic memory and executive function tests to determine whether or not Chiari Malformation Type I (CM) patients experience cognitive dysfunction.

Background

CM is a neurological syndrome in which the cerebellum descends into the cervical spine causing neural compression, severe headaches, neck pain, and number of other physical symptoms. While primarily a disorder of the cervico-medullary junction, both clinicians and researchers have suspected deficits in higher-level cognitive function.

Design and Methods

We tested 24 CM patients who had undergone decompression neurosurgery and 24 age- and education-matched controls on measures of immediate and delayed episodic memory, as well as three measures of executive function

For the results and more:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0094844

Conquer Chiari Research Center

Our research team is using computer simulations to help understand Chiari Malformation. The picture below shows a 3D reconstruction of the fluid space around the spinal cord for a healthy subject and a Chiari patient. The green colored structures are spinal cord nerve roots. Can you guess which one is a Chiari patient (left or right)?

Gosh, you are all so smart! Yes, right is a Chiari patient. In fact, the reconstruction is for a 4 year old child with Chiari (~8 mm tonsil descent below the foramen magnum)