Shrinking Scars

Bodily scars can illustrate nostalgic tales of our childhood scrapes and adventures. Other lifelong scars provide far less sentimental stories; such as those inflicted upon our central nervous system (CNS). When our brain or spine is injured scar tissue develops, blocking the regrowth of nerve cells and causing permanent nerve damage. Researchers investigated whether the drug deferoxamine could reduce scarring. Two cell types of the brain – astrocytes (green) and fibroblasts (red) – were grown in a dish. Adding a chemical to simulate scarring caused the fibroblasts to clump together and the astrocytes to surround them (pictured). Adding deferoxamine reduced the size of these obstructive clumps and allowed nerve cells added to the dish to extend projections across them. Testing deferoxamine in a mouse model of CNS damage produced similar results. Further research will reveal this drug’s potential to treat CNS trauma in humans.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Lux Fatimathas

Writer

Having pursued science through a career in research, communications and publishing, she is currently a writer and editor for a healthcare marketing agency and also juggles freelance science writing.

• Image from work by Christina Francisca Vogelaar and Brigitte König, and colleagues
• Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, Department of Neurology, Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Published in PLOS One, July 2015