Scientists discover a protein (DLK) that promotes regeneration in peripheral nerves...why not in our central nervous system?

Research is so focused on genetic defects causing PD, but will they ever look at something like this? This could explain people who upon autopsy have a "PD brain" who in life never develop PD. Maybe we are all born with the ability to regenerate cells in our brains and some of us have been compromised or PD has suppressed it somehow? Silly. Longshot, but what if?


Scientists identify protein required to regrow injured nerves in limbs.


Peripheral nerves provide the sense of touch and drive the muscles that move arms and legs, hands and feet. Unlike nerves of the central nervous system, peripheral nerves can regenerate after they are cut or crushed. But the mechanisms behind the regeneration are not well understood.

In the new study, published online June 20 in Neuron, the scientists show that a protein called dual leucine zipper kinase (DLK) regulates signals that tell the nerve cell it has been injured – often communicating over distances of several feet. The protein governs whether the neuron turns on its regeneration program...

“Since this sort of signaling doesn’t appear to happen in the central nervous system, it’s possible these nerves don’t ‘know’ when they are injured,” DiAntonio says. “It’s an exciting idea — but not at all proven — that activating DLK in the central nervous system could promote its regeneration.”