[Nerve transplantation in the central nervous system: a strategy for inducing nerve fiber regeneration in lesions of the brain and spinal cord]

Abstract

Nerve grafts have long been used as a reconstructive strategy in the human peripheral nervous system. In the nervous system (brain and spinal cord), peripheral nerve grafts have been used experimentally for promoting axonal regeneration in lesioned pathways. Peripheral nerve grafts play the role of physical and trophic supports that are favourable for the regeneration of central fibres that normally present only abortive regeneration in adult mammals. On the basis of several experimental models (axonal regeneration of retinal ganglion cells, respiratory neurones, ...) it has now been established that central fibres that have regenerated within the nerve grafts retain their ability to transmit normal nervous information and can make functional synaptic contact with a target. If such a strategy is not yet used in man, it nevertheless constitutes a promising approach for the investigation of the central nervous system plasticity, and could be useful in the treatment of spinal cord injuries.