Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comment
. 2018 Jun;24(6):522-524.
doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2018.04.007. Epub 2018 May 2.

To Scar or Not to Scar

Aarti Narang  1 , Binhai Zheng  2
Affiliations
Comment

To Scar or Not to Scar

Aarti Narang et al. Trends Mol Med. 2018 Jun.

Abstract

A recent study indicates that reducing fibrotic scarring by genetically abrogating the proliferation of type A pericytes promotes axon regeneration and functional recovery after spinal cord injury. Questions remain regarding the identity of the cells being manipulated and the balance between the beneficial and detrimental effects of fibrotic scarring.

Keywords: astrocytic scar; axon regeneration; fibrotic scar; functional recovery; spinal cord injury.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
After spinal cord injury, a scar forms at the injury site including a fibrotic component that is encased by an astrocytic component. How the scarring process impacts repair and recovery remains an important question. Dias and colleagues suggest that reducing type A pericyte-mediated fibrotic scarring improves axon regeneration (which typically does not occur to a significant extent in the mammalian CNS) and functional recovery.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

References

    1. Dias DO, et al. Reducing Pericyte-Derived Scarring Promotes Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury. Cell. 2018;173:153–165 e122. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Goritz C, et al. A pericyte origin of spinal cord scar tissue. Science. 2011;333:238–242. - PubMed
    1. Brazda N, Muller HW. Pharmacological modification of the extracellular matrix to promote regeneration of the injured brain and spinal cord. Prog Brain Res. 2009;175:269–281. - PubMed
    1. Ruschel J, et al. Systemic administration of epothilone B promotes axon regeneration after spinal cord injury. Science. 2015;348:347–352. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Slezak M, et al. Transgenic mice for conditional gene manipulation in astroglial cells. Glia. 2007;55:1565–1576. - PubMed

Publication types