https://www.cell.com/trends/pharmacological-sciences/pdf/S0165-6147(06)00153-2.pdf

Translocator protein (18kDa): new nomenclature for the peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptor based on its structure and molecular function.

Nerve regeneration is a complex biological phenomenon. In the peripheral nervous system, nerves can regenerate on their own if injuries are small. Larger injuries must be surgically treated, typically with nerve grafts harvested from elsewhere in the body. Spinal cord injury is more complicated, as there are factors in the body that inhibit repair. Unfortunately, a solution to completely repair spinal cord injury has not been found. Thus, bioengineering strategies for the peripheral nervous system are focused on alternatives to the nerve graft, whereas efforts for spinal cord injury are focused on creating a permissive environment for regeneration. Fortunately, recent advances in neuroscience, cell culture, genetic techniques, and biomaterials provide optimism for new treatments for nerve injuries. This article reviews the nervous system physiology, the factors that are critical for nerve repair, and the current approaches that are being explored to aid peripheral nerve regeneration and spinal cord repair.

Neural tissue engineering: strategies for repair and regeneration.

Mitochondria in Neuroplasticity and Neurological Disorders

There is currently an unmet need for the supply of autologous, patient-specific stem cells for regenerative therapies in the clinic. Mesenchymal stem cell differentiation can be driven by the material/cell interface suggesting a unique strategy to manipulate stem cells in the absence of complex soluble chemistries or cellular reprogramming. However, so far the derivation and identification of surfaces that allow retention of multipotency of this key regenerative cell type have remained elusive. Adult stem cells spontaneously differentiate in culture, resulting in a rapid diminution of the multipotent cell population and their regenerative capacity. Here we identify a nanostructured surface that retains stem-cell phenotype and maintains stem-cell growth over eight weeks. Furthermore, the study implicates a role for small RNAs in repressing key cell signalling and metabolomic pathways, demonstrating the potential of surfaces as non-invasive tools with which to address the stem cell niche.

Nanoscale surfaces for the long-term maintenance of mesenchymal stem cell phenotype and multipotency

The role of neurotrophic factors in the maintenance and survival of peripheral neuronal cells has been the subject of numerous studies. Administration of exogenous neurotrophic factors after nerve injury has been shown to mimic the effect of target organ-derived trophic factors on neuronal cells. After axotomy and during peripheral nerve regeneration, the neurotrophins NGF, NT-3 and BDNF show a well defined and selective beneficial effect on the survival and phenotypic expression of primary sensory neurons in dorsal root ganglia and of motoneurons in spinal cord. Other neurotrophic factors such as CNTF, GDNF and LIF also exert a variety of actions on neuronal cells, which appear to overlap and complement those of the neurotrophins. In addition, there is an indirect contribution of GGF to nerve regeneration. GGF is produced by neurons and stimulates proliferation of Schwann cells, underlining the close interaction between neuronal and glial cells during peripheral nerve regeneration. Different possibilities have been investigated for the delivery of growth factors to the injured neurons, in search of a suitable system for clinical applications. The studies reviewed in this article show the therapeutic potential of neurotrophic factors for the treatment of peripheral nerve injury and for neuropathies.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1469-7580.1999.19410001.x

Peripheral nerve regeneration and neurotrophic factors

Using clonal cell lines isolated from murine neuroblastoma C1300, we investigated the mitochondrial changes related to neuronal differentiation and, more generally, the role played by the mitochondrion in this phenomenon. By different approaches (measurement of the mitochondrial mass, immunoquantification of specific mitochondrial proteins, or incorporation of Rhodamine 123), the differentiation of the inducible clone, N1E-115, was found associated with an important increase of the cellular content in mitochondria. This increase could be observed with differentiating N1E-115 cells maintained in suspension, i.e. under conditions where neurite outgrowth is prevented but other early stages of (biochemical) differentiation continue to occur. That these mitochondrial changes are likely to be correlated with these stages of neuronal differentiation, rather than with simple progression to the postmitotic stage, stems from comparative experiments with clone N1A-103, a neuroblastoma cell line variant that becomes postmitotic after induction but fails to differentiate and shows no modification in its cellular content in mitochondria. In accordance with these observations, chloramphenicol prevents differentiation when added together with the inducer. This effect is probably related to the inhibition of mitochondrial translation rather than to modification of the bioenergetic needs because oligomycine, a potent inhibitor of the mitochondrial ATP synthetase, shows no effect on neurogenesis. As a working hypothesis and in keeping with independently published models, we postulate that products resulting from mitochondrial translation could be involved in the organization of the cytoskeleton or of certain membrane components whose rearrangements should be the prerequisite or the correlates to early stages of neuronal differentiation.

Participation of the mitochondrial genome in the differentiation of neuroblastoma cells

Neurotrophins increase motoneurons' ability to innervate skeletal muscle fibers in rat spinal cord--human muscle cocultures.

Peripherin (formerly the Y protein) is found in the peripheral nervous system. This Triton-insoluble protein is characterized by its isoelectric point (5.6), its apparent molecular weight (56,000 dalt

Bernard Croizat

Papers

Participation of the mitochondrial genome in the differentiation of neuroblastoma cells

Neurotrophins increase motoneurons' ability to innervate skeletal muscle fibers in rat spinal cord--human muscle cocultures.

Regulation of Peripherin in Mouse Neuroblastoma and Rat PC 12 Pheochromocytoma Cell Lines

Effects of peripheral benzodiazepines upon the O2 consumption of neuroblastoma cells.

A sequence of changes in cytoskeletal components during neuroblastoma differentiation.