4‐Aminopyridine promotes functional recovery and remyelination in acute peripheral nerve injury
Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 2:41 pm
4‐Aminopyridine promotes functional recovery and remyelination in acute peripheral nerve injury
http://embomolmed.embopress.org/content ... 06035.full
The paper explained
Problem
Traumatic peripheral nerve damage is a major medical problem without effective treatment options and in which diagnostic approaches have been static for decades. Even in lesions with the potential for spontaneous recovery, functional restoration occurs slowly, thus impacting quality of life for these individuals and increasing the time to identification of individuals in whom prompt surgical intervention is needed if recovery will ever occur.
Results
Results provided in this manuscript indicate that 4‐aminopyridine (4‐AP), a potassium channel blocker long studied in the context of chronic neurological afflictions, offers significant promise as a small molecule regenerative agent following acute traumatic nerve injury. In crush injuries of the mouse sciatic nerve, 4‐AP treatment accelerated behavioral and electrophysiological recovery and enhanced remyelination post‐injury. In addition, 4‐AP treatment enabled distinction between incomplete and complete lesions more rapidly than existing approaches, thus offering the possibility of more effectively distinguishing between injuries that may require distinct therapeutic approaches.
Impact
The ability of 4‐AP to promote durable recovery and remyelination following acute traumatic nerve injury offers a potentially valuable new use of this agent as a small molecule regenerative agent able to enhance endogenous repair. As constant daily 4‐AP administration is already approved to improve chronic walking disability in multiple sclerosis, transient use for regenerative purposes offers a compelling opportunity for future clinical studies. The additional ability of 4‐AP to enable rapid distinction between incomplete and complete nerve injuries means this one drug can potentially be used to identify lesions in which short‐term treatment with 4‐AP to promote durable recovery would be most likely to be beneficial and also to more rapidly identify individuals for whom timely surgical intervention is required to enhance the likelihood of recovery.
http://embomolmed.embopress.org/content ... 06035.full
The paper explained
Problem
Traumatic peripheral nerve damage is a major medical problem without effective treatment options and in which diagnostic approaches have been static for decades. Even in lesions with the potential for spontaneous recovery, functional restoration occurs slowly, thus impacting quality of life for these individuals and increasing the time to identification of individuals in whom prompt surgical intervention is needed if recovery will ever occur.
Results
Results provided in this manuscript indicate that 4‐aminopyridine (4‐AP), a potassium channel blocker long studied in the context of chronic neurological afflictions, offers significant promise as a small molecule regenerative agent following acute traumatic nerve injury. In crush injuries of the mouse sciatic nerve, 4‐AP treatment accelerated behavioral and electrophysiological recovery and enhanced remyelination post‐injury. In addition, 4‐AP treatment enabled distinction between incomplete and complete lesions more rapidly than existing approaches, thus offering the possibility of more effectively distinguishing between injuries that may require distinct therapeutic approaches.
Impact
The ability of 4‐AP to promote durable recovery and remyelination following acute traumatic nerve injury offers a potentially valuable new use of this agent as a small molecule regenerative agent able to enhance endogenous repair. As constant daily 4‐AP administration is already approved to improve chronic walking disability in multiple sclerosis, transient use for regenerative purposes offers a compelling opportunity for future clinical studies. The additional ability of 4‐AP to enable rapid distinction between incomplete and complete nerve injuries means this one drug can potentially be used to identify lesions in which short‐term treatment with 4‐AP to promote durable recovery would be most likely to be beneficial and also to more rapidly identify individuals for whom timely surgical intervention is required to enhance the likelihood of recovery.