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Article: Scientists finger surprise culprit in spinal cord injury.
- Article from:
- Biotech Week
- Article date:
- August 18, 2004
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2004 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- ATP, the vital energy source that keeps our body's cells alive, runs amok at the site of a spinal cord injury, pouring into the area around the wound and killing the cells that normally allow us to move, scientists report.
The finding that ATP is a culprit in causing the devastating damage of spinal cord injury is unexpected. Doctors have known that initial trauma to the spinal cord is exacerbated by a cascade of molecular events over the first few hours that permanently worsen the paralysis for patients. But the finding that high levels of ATP kill healthy cells in nearby regions of the spinal cord that were otherwise ...