Glial scar brain and spinal cord. FGF2 has also been shown to increase astrocyte proliferation "in vitro". Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is a cytosolic protein that is not secreted. CNTF has been shown to promote the survival of neuronal cultures "in vitro", and it can also act as a differentiator and trophic factor on glial cells. Further, CNTF has been previously shown to affect the differentiation of glial precursor cells "in vitro"; however, the influence of CNTF in the "in vivo" setting has only recently been determined. Winter "et al." used CNTF over-expressing transgenic mice as well as wildtype controls that had
Glial scar animal). Further, a reduction in astrocytes and microglia, as well as a reduction in inflammation and angiogenesis, were observed. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is thought to be a molecular mediator of glial scar formation. It has been shown to promote differentiation of neural stem cells into astrocytes. A monoclonal antibody, MR16-1, has been used to target and block the IL-6 receptors in rat spinal cord injury models. In a study by Okada "et al.", mice were intraperitoneally injected with a single dose of MR16-1 immediately after generating a spinal cord injury. Blockade of IL-6 receptors decreased the number of astrocytes present at