Researchers think they can stop a common side effect of spinal cord injury People with such injuries have exaggerated “fight or flight” responses that can be life-threatening Blocking certain nerve cells could prevent this from happening FRIDAY, June 14, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Spinal cord injuries can cause the body to go haywire, with misfiring nerves causing dangerous “fight-or-flight” responses. This makes typical and normally harmless problems like having a full bladder prompt life-threatening complications like heart attack, stroke and severe infections like . But researchers think they’ve found a way to treat this condition, which is called autonomic dysfunction.
It’s possible to prevent autonomic dysfunction by depleting the specific type of nerve cell that causes the problem, researchers reported June 12 in the journal . “We discovered that exaggerated, life-threatening autonomic reflexes after spinal cord injury are associated with abnormal growth and rewiring of nerve fibers in the spinal cord,” said researcher , chair of neuroscience at Ohio State University and executive director of Ohio State’s Belford Center for Spinal Cord Injury. “A specific cell type, called microglia, control this abnormal growth and rewiring,” Popovich said.
“Using experimental tools to deplete microglia, we found it’s possible to prevent abnormal nerve growth, and prevent autonomic complications after spinal cord injury.” This haywire fight-or-flight response .
