A research team consisting of scientists from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Jinan University discovered a new mechanism that could delay the degeneration of injured nerves, bringing new hope for the treatment of nerve damage and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinsons and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Axon is the long projection of a neuron/nerve cell that transmits electrical impulses to muscles and other nerve cells.  How nerves, bundles of axons and often meter-long processes of neurons maintain their integrity has been one of the fundamental questions in neuroscience, as failure of axonal integrity may cause axonal dying back or retrograde degeneration of nerves – a process very similar to the injury-induced Wallerian Degeneration. Read More...  

Prof. LIU Kai, Cheng Associate Professor from the Division of Life Science

Integrity of the injured nerve is apparently more intact (bottom right) within three days after upregulation of Vps4 than that which have not been regulated (upper right).