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Updated: Jan 27, 2026

Dorsal Root Ganglion Injection and Dorsal Root Crush Injury as a Model for Sensory Axon Regeneration
Published on: May 3, 2017
BMP4/Smad1 Signalling Promotes Spinal Dorsal Column Axon Regeneration and Functional Recovery After Injury
Fatima Farrukh1, Elise Davies1, Martin Berry1
1Neuroscience and Ophthalmology, Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
Abstract:
Signalling through the BMP4/Smad1 pathway promotes corticospinal tract axon regeneration and functional recovery in mice. However, unlike humans and rats, mice do not cavitate. Here, we investigated if activation of the BMP4/Smad1 pathway promotes axon regeneration and functional recovery in a rat model that cavitates. We show that dorsal root ganglion neurons (DRGN) in injury models, including the non-regenerating dorsal column (DC) and the regenerating sciatic nerve (SN) crush and preconditioning (p) SN + DC (pSN + DC) paradigms, regulate the BMP4/Smad1 signalling pathway. For example, mRNA expression of positive regulators of the BMP4/Smad1 pathway was highly up-regulated whilst negative regulators were significantly down-regulated in DRGN in the regenerating SN and pSN + DC models compared to non-regenerating DC models, matched by concomitant changes in protein expression detected in DRGN by immunohistochemistry. BMP4 peptide promoted significant DRGN survival and disinhibited neurite outgrowth in vitro, whilst AAV-BMP4 delivery in vivo stimulated DC axon regeneration and functional recovery in a model that cavitates. Our results show that activation of the BMP4/Smad1 pathway is a potential therapeutic target in the search for axon regenerative signalling pathways in the CNS.
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