Head injuries occur often in a myriad of situations- car crashes, falls, sports- and now BME faculty member Dr. Anne Marion Taylor and her team are one step closer to understanding how to reverse the negative consequences of such events. Outlined in a study published in Nature Communications earlier this year, Dr. Taylor has discovered that decreased neural connections, caused by trauma, can lead to over-excitability of the affected neurons. While some over-excitement can be beneficial to restoring inter-neural communication, too much can have the opposite effect, leading to neuritic death. The team was able to help stem the loss of neural connections by treating injured neurons with a specific protein called netrin-1; as a result, the injured neurons returned to almost normal condition. Dr. Taylor hopes that netrin-1 will help in the creation of a new therapy for brain injury patients, and BME is proud to support her in this endeavor.
Read more about the study at MedicalXpress.