Epigenetic Regulation of Axon Regeneration after Neural Injury.
When peripheral axons are damaged, neuronal injury signaling pathways induce transcriptional changes that support axon regeneration and consequent functional recovery. The recent development of bioinformatics techniques has allowed for the identification of many of the regeneration-associated genes that are regulated by neural injury, yet it remains unclear how global changes in transcriptome are coordinated. In this article, we review recent studies on the epigenetic mechanisms orchestrating changes in gene expression in response to nerve injury. We highlight the importance of epigenetic mechanisms in discriminating efficient axon regeneration in the peripheral nervous system and very limited axon regrowth in the central nervous system and discuss the therapeutic potential of targeting epigenetic regulators to improve neural recovery.
The Research Institute of Basic Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea.
Jung Eun
JE
Shin
Department of Life Sciences, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea.
Yongcheol
Y
Cho
D001369:Axons / Q000502:physiology*; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D006801:Humans; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D020196:Trauma, Nervous System / Q000473:pathology
axon regeneration; epigenetic regulation; histone modification; nerve injury