(ORDO NEWS) — Scientists have found that the autonomic nervous system has the ability to spontaneously restore muscle function after damage to nervous tissue. So, in the future, we can expect new developments for the treatment of affected nerves.
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is the control center of the human regulatory functions, for example, it controls the heartbeat and breathing.
A research team at the Vienna Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Medical University, Austria, found that this part of the nervous system also has the ability to spontaneously restore muscle function after nerve injury.
The results of scientists can become the basis for improving the treatment of affected nerves.
Nerve problems
A research team led by Vlad Tereshchenko and Oskar Asmann at the Clinical Laboratory for Bionic Limb Reconstruction has discovered a previously unknown frontier of nerve-muscle interaction through their preclinical studies of facial nerves and muscles.
So, after damage or rupture of the nerve – it can no longer control the motor function of the facial muscles, which leads to paralysis of this facial nerve in animals.
But in some cases, scientists have observed spontaneous recovery of muscle function days or weeks after nerve injury.
They were able to establish that the autonomic nervous system, as it were, takes over the function of the damaged nerve.
“Until now, we did not know that the ANS can control the motor function of muscles using nerve impulses. As we have seen in our experiments, parasympathetic nerve fibers form new functional neuromuscular synapses for this purpose.
Muscle fibers are modified and, consequently, the physiological properties of autonomously reinnervated muscles change,” explains Vlad Tereshchenko, lead author of the study.
Nerve treatment
After injury or certain diseases, nerves may temporarily or permanently lose their ability to provide motor control to muscles. “By discovering a previously unknown ability of the autonomic nervous system, we have discovered a new potential participant in nerve reconstruction.
Thus, the results of our study can help improve existing therapeutic measures and develop new ones,” says Vlad Tereshchenko.
Future work is expected to deepen knowledge of this new aspect of the neuromuscular system. One of the questions that needs to be addressed is whether and how it is possible to surgically relocate autonomic nerve fibers to temporarily or permanently restore muscle function.
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