TY - JOUR T1 - Fgf-Dependent Glial Cell Bridges Facilitate Spinal Cord Regeneration in Zebrafish JF - The Journal of Neuroscience JO - J. Neurosci. SP - 7477 LP - 7492 DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0758-12.2012 VL - 32 IS - 22 AU - Yona Goldshmit AU - Tamar E. Sztal AU - Patricia R. Jusuf AU - Thomas E. Hall AU - Mai Nguyen-Chi AU - Peter D. Currie Y1 - 2012/05/30 UR - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/22/7477.abstract N2 - Adult zebrafish show a remarkable capacity to regenerate their spinal column after injury, an ability that stands in stark contrast to the limited repair that occurs within the mammalian CNS post-injury. The reasons for this interspecies difference in regenerative capacity remain unclear. Here we demonstrate a novel role for Fgf signaling during glial cell morphogenesis in promoting axonal regeneration after spinal cord injury. Zebrafish glia are induced by Fgf signaling, to form an elongated bipolar morphology that forms a bridge between the two sides of the resected spinal cord, over which regenerating axons actively migrate. Loss of Fgf function inhibits formation of this “glial bridge” and prevents axon regeneration. Despite the poor potential for mammalian axonal regeneration, primate astrocytes activated by Fgf signaling adopt a similar morphology to that induced in zebrafish glia. This suggests that differential Fgf regulation, rather than intrinsic cell differences, underlie the distinct responses of mammalian and zebrafish glia to injury. ER -