In a new study published 2 September 2014 in the scientific journal Neuron, Sam David and his team at the Research Institute of the McGill University Heath Centre shed light on why inflammation after nervous system injury, such as spinal cord trauma, worsens damage and functional loss. Sam David says that “a cytokine called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and iron from red blood cells that are phagocytosed by macrophages favours a prolonged shift to harmful pro-inflammatory type of macrophage that is detrimental to recovery.”
Sam David also says that “this discovery has revealed good therapeutic targets for the treatment of spinal cord injury, and may also be of relevance for brain trauma and hemorrhagic stroke”
Original Research Article: Kroner A, Greenhalgh AD, Zarruk JG, Passos Dos Santos R, Gaestel M, David S.
TNF and Increased Intracellular Iron Alter Macrophage Polarization to a
Detrimental M1 Phenotype in the Injured Spinal Cord. Neuron. 2014 Sep
3;83(5):1098-116. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.07.027.
