Peripheral Nerve Grafts Implanted into Rat CNS (Optic Nerve) Show Electrophoretic Patterns of Radiolabelled Fast Axonally Transported Proteins Similar to the Pattern seen in the Normal Host CNS Tract

Abstract

In their eloquent studies on peripheral nerve grafts implanted into rat central nervous system (CNS), Aguayo and colleagues 3,6 have demonstrated that when given an appropriate environment, mammalian CNS neurones, like other nerve cells, can regrow their axons great distances after damage. However, whether or not special components manufactured within nerve cells are also necessary to effect regeneration is still a matter of conjecture. One such group of components may be proteins that are rapidly transported down regenerating axons and appear to be selectively increased compared to other transported proteins 1,2,4,5 if such proteins are indeed prerequisite for nerve growth, then their expression in CNS fibres growing through peripheral nerve grafts might also be expected. In these preliminary studies I report that proteins are seen in peripheral nerve grafts implanted into the rat eye which appear very similar to fast axonally transported proteins seen normally in the host CNS, and are presumably conveyed along CNS fibres growing within the graft.