Postsynaptic neuronal activity promotes regeneration of retinal axons.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Bench and animal experimental study with no human data
PubMed 37141093 · doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112476
What was done
Researchers developed an experimental paradigm to test whether increasing neural activity in distal optic pathway postsynaptic visual target neurons stimulates retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axon regeneration. They assessed axon regrowth, target reinnervation, optomotor behavioral functional recovery, and the effects of selectively activating retinorecipient neuron subsets.
What was found
Enhancing neural activity in postsynaptic visual targets promoted RGC axon regeneration and target reinnervation, resulting in the rescue of optomotor function. Selective activation of specific retinorecipient neuron subsets was sufficient to promote axon regeneration. The abstract provides no specific numerical values or effect sizes.
Why it matters
This work identifies postsynaptic target activity as an active regulator of presynaptic axonal regrowth, pointing toward brain stimulation of visual targets as a potential approach to restore damaged visual circuits.
Limits
The abstract does not disclose the animal species, sample sizes, injury paradigm details, or exact quantitative outcomes. Findings are limited to preclinical animal models and cannot be directly applied to human clinical outcomes without human data.
Cited by
- supports Andrew Huberman's laboratory published two papers, including a clinical trial, in 2023.