Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2014, Vol. 9 ›› Issue (18): 1653-1656.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.141797

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Decorin treatment of spinal cord injury

Maryam Esmaeili, Martin Berry, Ann Logan, Zubair Ahmed   

  1. Neurotrauma Research Group, Neurobiology Section, School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
  • Received:2014-08-18 Online:2014-09-26 Published:2014-09-26
  • Contact: Zubair Ahmed, Ph.D., Neurotrauma Research Group, Neurobiology Section, School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Room WX2.17 Institute of Biomedical Research (West), Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK, z.ahmed.1@bham.ac.uk.
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust, grant No. 092539/Z/10/Z and the International Spinal Research Trust, grant No. STR103. AL is also funded by the National Institute for Health research (NIHR) Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre (partnership between University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, the University of Birmingham and the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine).

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Abstract:

The scarring response after a penetrant central nervous system injury results from the interaction between invading leptominingeal/pericyte-derived fibroblasts and endogenous reactive astrocytes about the wound margin. Extracellular matrix and scar-derived axon growth inhibitory molecules fill the lesion site providing both a physical and chemical barrier to regenerating axons. Decorin, a small leucine-rich chondroitin-dermatan sulphate proteoglycan expressed by neurons and astrocytes in the central nervous system, is both anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory and attenuates the formation and partial dissolution of established and chronic scars. Here, we discuss the potential of using Decorin to antagonise scarring in the central nervous system.

Key words: spinal cord injury, Decorin, transforming growth factor-beta, scarring, chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan, matrix metalloproteases