Recipients

Disabilities arising from damage to peripheral nerves pose a tremendous clinical challenge and these challenges are even greater in the elderly or diabetic patient. In order for nerve repair to be successful, the injured nerve cell must make specific proteins that are beneficial to the repair process. One such protein is brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). In collaboration with Drs. T. Gordon (University of Alberta) and T. Brushart (Johns Hopkins), researchers have recently found that BDNF is expressed at elevated levels by injured nerve cells when they are electrically stimulated at the time of surgical peripheral nerve repair. This strategy greatly improves the ability of the injured nerve cells to regenerate. This project will assess whether BDNF is responsible for the improved regeneration observed with nerve stimulation and whether it instructs the injured nerve cell to regenerate more effectively. By elucidating this role for BDNF, adjunct therapies aimed at increasing BDNF’s expression will be developed in the hope that this will improve repair in other areas of the nervous system. The overall goal of this research program is to develop improved nerve repair strategies so as to reduce the number of people who are left with chronic and costly disabilities due to ineffective nerve repair.

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