Public release date: 28-Feb-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Tara Womersley tara.womersley@ed.ac.uk 44-131-650-9836 University of Edinburgh

The quest for treatments for motor neurone disease, spinal cord injury and strokes could be helped by new research that shows how key cells are produced.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have been able to manipulate the production of motor neurones which control all muscle activity in zebrafish.

Zebrafish are important in helping scientists understand how motor neurones are produced, because unlike mammals, they are able to create new motor neurones as adults.

Humans can generate motor neurones during embryonic development but lose the ability to generate these cells, which are important for speaking, walking and breathing, after birth.

This means that the body is unable to replace these cells if they become damaged as a result of motor neurone disease, stroke or spinal cord injury.

The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that motor neurone production could be increased in adult zebrafish with a drug that inhibits the so-called notch-signalling pathway.

Dr Catherina Becker, from the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Neuroregeneration, said: "If we can find out more about the cell mechanisms involved in zebrafish to make motor neurones, we could potentially manipulate these pathways in humans with the hope of being able to generate new motor neurones."

The research focussed on early stage cells known as progenitor cells in zebrafish, which have the ability to generate motor neurones.

Original post:
Cell study may aid bid for motor neurone therapies

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