Authors: Dietmar Fischer
Publish Date: 2012/02/01
Volume: 349, Issue: 1, Pages: 79-85
Abstract
Like other neurons of the central nervous system CNS retinal ganglion cells RGCs are normally unable to regenerate injured axons and instead undergo apoptotic cell death This regenerative failure leads to lifelong visual deficits after optic nerve damage and is partially attributable to factors located in the inhibitory environment of the forming glial scar and myelin as well as to an insufficient intrinsic ability for axonal regrowth In addition to its ophthalmological relevance the optic nerve has long been used as a favorable paradigm for studying regenerative failure in the CNS as a whole Findings over the last 15 years have shown that under certain circumstances mature RGCs can be transformed into an active regenerative state enabling these neurons to survive axotomy and to regenerate axons in the optic nerve Moreover combinatorial treatments overcoming the inhibitory environment of the glial scar and optic nerve myelin together with approaches activating the intrinsic growth program can further enhance the amount of regeneration in vivo These findings are encouraging and open the possibility that clinically meaningful regeneration may become achievable in the future
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