By increasing the amount of serotonin in the spinal cord, an experimental drug helps nerve connections work better. Bee Smith/Ocean/Corbis hide caption By increasing the amount of serotonin in the spinal cord, an experimental drug helps nerve connections work better. A scientist who chose to ignore the mainstream nearly 30 years ago has found a new way to regenerate nerves in the spinal cord, at least in animals. A drug that Jerry Silver, a professor of neuroscience at Case Western Reserve University, helped design a drug that has allowed paralyzed rats to regain bladder function and even walk. The drug works by releasing nerve fibers that have become trapped in scar tissue after a spinal cord injury, Silver says. "Now we've got something that might work in people," though it hasn't been tested in humans yet, he says. The study was published Wednesday in Nature. Everybody else in the world was asking why nerves grow where they do. And I thought I'd do something different and ask why they don't grow where they don't. - Jerry Silver The research that led to this drug began in the 1980s. At the time, Silver and many other scientists were studying nerves. "Everybody … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 3-Dec-2014 Contact: Christopher Thomas thomaschr@ninds.nih.gov 301-496-5751 NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Injections of a new drug may partially relieve paralyzing spinal cord injuries, based on indications from a study in rats, which was partly funded by the National Institutes of Health The results demonstrate how fundamental laboratory research may lead to new therapies. "We're very excited at the possibility that millions of people could, one day, regain movements lost during spinal cord injuries," said Jerry Silver, Ph.D., professor of neurosciences, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, and a senior investigator of the study published in Nature. Every year, tens of thousands of people are paralyzed by spinal cord injuries. The injuries crush and sever the long axons of spinal cord nerve cells, blocking communication between the brain and the body and resulting in paralysis below the injury. On a hunch, Bradley Lang, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and a graduate student in Dr. Silver's lab, came up with the idea of designing a drug that would help axons regenerate without having to touch the healing spinal cord, as current treatments may require. "Originally this was just a side project we brainstormed … Continue reading →

INQUIRER.net PHOTO PARIS, France A new compound, tested so far on rats, shows promise in restoring functions lost by paralyzing injury to the spinal cord, a study said on Wednesday. Called intracellular sigma peptide (ISP), the drug helped lab animals with severe spinal injury recover the ability to urinate or move, or both, it said. More work is needed, but the scientists behind ISP said the results boosted hopes for a future therapy for humans. Were very excited at the possibility that millions of people could, one day, regain movements lost during spinal cord injuries, said Jerry Silver, a professor of neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Published in the journal Nature, the research looked at ways of overcoming scarring when nerve fibers in the spinal cord are damaged and signals from the brain no longer reach muscles below the injury site. Nerve fibers try to cross the injury site and reconnect with other fibers, but become trapped at the scar site by sticky proteins called proteoglycans. ISP is designed to act on the receptor on the surface of the nerve cells. Like a switch, it turns off a response to the proteoglycans that causes the blockage. … Continue reading →

Researchers say they've developed a drug that may help heal a damaged spine the first time anything like a drug has been shown to help. The drug works on nerve cells that are cut, sending connections across the break, and it helped injured rats move their back legs again and also gave them back control of their bladders. "This recovery is unprecedented," said Jerry Silver, a neuroscience professor at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio who led the study. Right now, there's no good way to heal a broken spine. Sometimes people grow nerve cells back, but usually not. All the cures that are in the works require invasive surgery, whether it's injections of stem cells, nerve tissue transplants or implants of neurostimulators. But Silver's team came up with a compound that is injected. It doesn't require surgery. "We're very excited at the possibility that millions of people could, one day, regain movements lost during spinal cord injuries." "There are currently no drug therapies available that improve the very limited natural recovery from spinal cord injuries that patients experience," said Lyn Jakeman, a program director at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of … Continue reading →