Martin E. Schwab
Professor of Neuroscience, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich, Chair of the Department of Neuromorphology, Brain Research Institute, University of Zürich, Switzerland
Breaking the Wall of Paraplegia. How Neuroscience Can Help Spinal- and Brain-Injured Patients.
When a person suffers a spine- or a brain-injury, how do we improve the return of lost functions and lessen the likelihood of severe disability? In the brain and spinal cord re-growth of injured nerve fibers is only possible to a very limited extent – making the recovery after injury impossible. Until now, that is: if a rat’s back is broken, a new experimental therapy allows regeneration of injured nerve fibers and recovery of function to a very large extent. In his experiments, Martin E. Schwab (1949) discovered that the spinal ciord and brain contain the protein Nogo-A, which has a strong inhibitory effect on growth of nerve fibers. Schwab first purified Nogo-A and then produced function-blocking antibodies which defeat this growth-inhibiting signal. The functions the rats, mice and monkeys had lost after spinal cord or brain injuries, such as locomotion, swimming, climbing and fine hand reaching movements (monkeys) all returned. Such antibodies are currently being applied to acutely injured spinal cord patients in clinical tests.
