Advances in Axon Degeneration and Regeneration

Dear Colleagues,

Traumatic neuronal injuries, including peripheral nerve injuries (PNI), traumatic brain injury (TBI), or spinal cord injury (SCI), cause long-term functional deficits that represent a big hurdle in the quality of life of patients who suffer them. Loss of function is caused by the disconnection of axons. Injured axons undergo a degenerative process and are unable to reattach to restore function. Consequently, axon degeneration and the lack of functional axonal regeneration are the pivotal pathological events of acute traumatic neuronal injuries. Axon degeneration is an active cellular program and yet molecularly distinct from cell death. In recent years, much effort has been devoted toward understanding the nature of axon degeneration and promoting axon regeneration; however, the fundamental mechanisms of self-destruction of damaged axons and the intrinsic inability to regenerate still remain unclear, causing a worrying lack of effective treatments for chronic axonal injuries. In this Special Issue, we aim to include breakthrough findings, ranking from new strategies (in vitro or in vivo) to clinical approaches to understand fundamental and challenging issues behind axonal regeneration failure. We will focus on how these mechanistic insights hold promises for accelerating and identifying potential therapeutic targets for chronic axonal injuries. Both original research articles and reviews are welcome.

Dr. José Antonio Del Río
Dr. Arnau Hervera
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.