Neuroregenerative strategies in the brain: emerging significance of bonemorphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7)

Every year thousands of people suffer from brain injuries and stroke, anddevelop motor, sensory, and cognitive problems as a result of neuronal loss in thebrain. Unfortunately, the damaged brain has a limited ability to enact repair andcurrent modes of treatment are not sufficient to offset the damage. An extensivelist of growth factors, neurotrophic factors, cytokines, and drugs has been exploredas potential therapies. However, only a limited number of them may actually have thepotential to effectively offset the brain injury or stroke-related problems. One ofthe treatments considered for future brain repair is bone morphogenetic protein 7(BMP7), a factor currently used in patients to treat non-neurological diseases. The clinical application of BMP7 is based on its neuroprotective role in stroke animal models. This paper reviews the current approac hes considered for brain repair and discusses the novel convergent strategies by which BMP7 potentially can induce neuroregenerationNRC publication: Ye

Traumatic brain injury: classification, models, and markers.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Due to its high incidence rate and often long-term sequelae, TBI contributes significantly to increasing costs of health care expenditures annually. Unfortunately, advances in the field have been stifled by patient and injury heterogeneity that pose a major challenge in TBI prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. In this review, we briefly discuss the causes of TBI, followed by its prevalence, classification, and pathophysiology. The current imaging detection methods and animal models used to study brain injury are examined. We discuss the potential use of molecular markers in detecting and monitoring the progression of TBI, with particular emphasis on microRNAs as a novel class of molecular modulators of injury and its repair in the neural tissue