Systemic administration of epothilone B promotes axon regeneration after spinal cord injury

Abstract

Progress toward fixing a broken back? Axon regeneration after a spinal cord injury requires interference with neuronal mechanisms to promote axon extension and early suppression of scar formation. Microtubule stabilization could provide, in principle, a basis for such intervention. Ruschel et al. used animal models of spinal cord injury, time-lapse imaging in vivo, primary neuronal cultures, and behavioral studies to tackle this challenge (see the Perspective by Tran and Silver). They showed that epothilone B, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved microtubule-stabilizing drug that can cross the blood-brain barrier, does promote functional axon regeneration, even after injury. Science , this issue p. 347 ; see also p. 285