Regeneration and repair in the nervous system articles from across Nature Portfolio

Astrocytes have important roles in the repair of the CNS. However, the underlying mechanisms involved remain incompletely understood. O’Shea et al. report that the functional reprogramming of astrocytes at the borders of traumatic lesions contributes to the re-establishment of CNS integrity by separating the parenchyma from stromal and immune cells.

Intuitive control of bionic arms has greatly improved over the past years, however, it is still not possible to restore natural sensory feedback. Here, the authors create a biological communication interface for both controlling a prosthesis and supplying sensations associated with the missing limb in rats.

The Tabulae Paralytica, a compilation of four molecular atlases of spinal cord injury, provides a window into the pathobiology of spinal cord injury, establishing a framework for integrating multimodal, genome-scale measurements in four dimensions to study biology and medicine.

The mechanisms regulating microglial response to brain injury are unclear. Here, the authors show that astrocytic ATP dynamics encode injury information and trigger microglia response affecting the tissue damage and recovery of function following injury in mice.

The origin and composition of stromal fibroblasts in the fibrotic CNS scar are unclear. Here, the authors demonstrate that pericytes and perivascular fibroblasts contribute to fibrotic scarring following spinal cord injury in mice in a region-dependent manner.

A non-invasive technique using transcranial electrical stimulation offers an improvement in focality over other non-invasive techniques, presenting an opportunity to target deep brain structures for the treatment of neurological disorders.

Astrocytes have important roles in the repair of the CNS. However, the underlying mechanisms involved remain incompletely understood. O’Shea et al. report that the functional reprogramming of astrocytes at the borders of traumatic lesions contributes to the re-establishment of CNS integrity by separating the parenchyma from stromal and immune cells.

After spinal cord injury, stromal fibroblasts originate from pericytes and perivascular fibroblasts, with pericytes more prevalent in gray matter and fibroblasts in white matter. Holl et al. show that both cell types respond to injury and inflammation, are activated, and transcriptionally converge on scar formation after injury, paving the way for therapeutic possibilities.

A study in mice identifies formin 2 as a regulator of axon regeneration and a potential target for promoting nerve repair after peripheral nerve injury.

Directed axonal regeneration has restored walking function in mice with complete spinal cord injury.