PTEN deletion facilitates corticospinal tract regeneration after chronic spinal cord injury

Abstract

Lack of regeneration of mature mammalian CNS leads to permanent functional loss after spinal cord injury. Studies show that neonatal PTEN deletion facilitates axon regeneration in corticospinal tract; however no treatment after chronic injury has shown robust axonal regeneration. In this study; we used adrenal associated virus to delete PTEN gene from corticospinal motor neuron of PTEN^flox/flox mice one year after the spinal cord injury. We observed that after 3 months there was corticospinal tract regeneration and robust regeneration 3 months later. Our result demonstrates that adult CNS can regenerate after chronic spinal cord injury and suggested clinical potential in gene therapies for chronic patients.

Date of Award	2013
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology