Plasticity and regeneration for CNS repair
Prof James Fawcett - Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair
Friday, 17 October 2014, 4pm to 5pm
Main Lecture Theatre, Le Gros Clarke Building, Department of Physiology Anatomy and Genetics, Le Gros Clark Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QX.
Repairing damage to the CNS requires both plasticity and axon regeneration. In both cases interactions between neurons, glia and the extracellular matrix are key events. Perineuronal nets control plasticity, and removing them reactivates plasticity and functional recovery in adults. Axon regeneration is still an unsolved problem. Extensive regeneration of sensory axons can be stimulated by expressing a combination of a tenascin-binding integrin and an activator, but in most mature CNS neurons integrins and many other growth-related molecules become excluded from the axons.