RESEARCH

One of the most exciting uses for IGF-1 is the repair of nerve damage that occurs in injury or illness.  When a nerve is damaged in the arm or leg the connection to muscle tissue is dramatically impaired.  AS a result, there is a loss of movement and a wasting of effected muscle tissue.  These nerves can regenerate to some extent.   Severe damage of more than one-half inch may result in permanent injury.  However, IGF-1 has repaired and reconnected severed nerve endings up to a distance of six millimeters.  IGF-1 has been shown to have remarkable growth effects  on spinal cord motor neurons.  

It increased motor neuron activity in spinal cultures by 150 to 270%.  In addition to this, it significantly decreased the preprogrammed cell death in developing chick embryos.  The implications of these early studies are absolutely enormous.  If IGF-1  can re-generate spinal cord motor neurons, it may be able to trat one of the most devastating, fatal diseases  known as amyo-trophic lateral sclerosis(ALS), a devastating disease in which the loss of cortical motor neurons result in complete paralysis and death.