Microsurgery on the brain of the fruit fly leads to new insights into irreparable nerve injuries
Every year, one million Europeans are confronted with potentially irreparable brain or spinal cord injuries resulting from traffic accidents. Because the nerves in a damaged spinal cord cannot, or cannot fully, be repaired, the patient remains (partially) paralyzed. Now, VIB scientists connected to the K.U.Leuven have become the first to successfully develop a simple model that enables the study of injured brain tissue. The researchers have perfected a technique for keeping the cultured brain of a fruit fly alive and healthy for a longer period of time. With the aid of microsurgery, this new technique enables scientists to inflict injury on certain nerve bundles for research purposes. By means of this new fruit fly model, the researchers have already succeeded in showing that the activation of a particular signaling pathway (JNK) induces the regeneration of axons. This research offers positive perspectives for patients with nerve injuries that have been irreversible up to now.