JCI: common drugs can help patients with spinal cord injury to recover the ability of limb movement

December 6, 2019 news / Bio Valley bio on / - a new study on mice shows that long-term use of gabapentin (a common drug for neuralgia) can help restore upper limb function after spinal cord injury In this study, the authors found that the forelimb function of the mice treated with gabapentin recovered about 60%, while that of the mice treated with placebo only recovered about 30% The mechanism of action is that the drug essentially blocks the activity of proteins that play a key role in the growth process of axons, which are long and slender extensions of nerve cell bodies that transmit information When synapses are formed, the protein stops axon growth and transmits information to another nerve cell (image source: www Pixabay Com) research shows that gabapentin can prevent the inhibitory activity of proteins, so that axons can grow longer after injury Andrea Tedeschi, assistant professor of Neuroscience at Ohio State University, said: "I think there is enough evidence to reconsider how we use the drug in clinical practice Our findings may also affect other neurological diseases, such as brain damage and stroke " The study was published in the Journal of clinical investigation The spinal cord injuries in these mice were located near the top of the spine People who suffer from such injuries usually lose enough sense and motor ability and need help in daily life After four months of gabapentin treatment, the treated mice were better able to move and spread the toes of their forelimbs across the horizontal ladder than the untreated mice Tedeschi pointed out that in this study, gabapentin treatment occurred much earlier than the typical treatment in human medicine, because gabapentin was prescribed for the treatment of existing neuropathic pain and other neurological diseases A retrospective study of European medical data published in 2017 showed that individuals who received anticonvulsant gabapentin or similar drugs early after spinal cord injury recovered motor function This is not a clinical trial, but the analysis showed a link between the administration of gabapentin and the restoration of muscle strength Source of information: a common drug could help restore limb function after spiral core intervention original source: Wenjing sun, Molly J.E Larson, Conrad M Kiyoshi, Alexander J Annett, William A stallker, Juan Peng, Andrea Tedeschi Gabapentinoid treatment promotion corporate layout and regulation following murine spiral core intervention Journal of Clinical Investigation , 2019; DOI: 10.1172/JCI130391