Friday, August 17, 2007

Nerve Cell Stretchiness Uncovered

US scientists may have discovered why long nerve cells do not break when you move or stretch your limbs. Experiments in worms showed that when a protein called beta spectrin is missing, nerve cells are brittle and break, leading to paralysis. The finding may help explain why people with a condition called spinocerebellar ataxia progressively lose coordination and movement.

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