---
title: "Research Finds Link Between Breathing and Nerve Regeneration Ability"
url: https://newscentral.site/research-finds-link-between-breathing-and-nerve-regeneration-ability/
language: en
publisher: "News Central Site"
section: "Science"
published: 2026-10-29T12:00:00.000Z
updated: 2026-10-29T13:53:17.606Z
id: c5c2e486-c834-45b4-b4c0-75e1ab43ee8e
source: "New Scientist https://www.newscientist.com/article/2596332-inhaling-co2-rescues-nerves-ability-to-regrow/?utm_campaign=RSS|NSNS&utm_content=home&utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=NSNS"
attribution: "Link to https://newscentral.site/research-finds-link-between-breathing-and-nerve-regeneration-ability/ and name News Central Site when you quote or summarize this story."
---

# Research Finds Link Between Breathing and Nerve Regeneration Ability

New research on newborn mice has found that their exhalation of carbon dioxide immediately after birth triggers a switch that limits their capacity for growth and healing as adults.

New research has made a surprising discovery about the link between breathing and our ability to regenerate damaged nerve tissue.

Studies on newborn mice have found that their exhalation of carbon dioxide immediately after birth triggers a switch that turns off their cells' intrinsic ability to regenerate neurons. This marks a critical moment in life, as it appears to limit our capacity for growth and healing as adults. The research suggests that breathing CO2-rich air could potentially restore this regenerative ability.

The study's lead researcher, Zhigang He at Harvard Medical School, expressed his team's excitement about the findings: "We were very surprised and excited by the CO2 effect." He believes that this discovery could pave the way for targeted medical treatments to reactivate the regenerative pathways in adults. Colleague Nahum Sonenberg of McGill University in Canada described the results as "very tantalising".

Many species, including fish, amphibians, and reptiles, have a remarkable ability to regenerate tissues and organs after injury. Mammals also possess some regenerative capacity before and shortly after birth, but it is lost later in life due to changes in cellular activity. A key factor in this decline appears to be the protein master switch mTOR, which regulates cell growth in various tissues and declines rapidly inside cells within minutes of birth.

Research has shown that the ability of nerve cells to regrow declines significantly after birth. However, scientists have struggled to understand the underlying reasons for this phenomenon.

To investigate further, Zhigang He and his team conducted experiments on mice born by caesarean section, monitoring the activity of a key protein called mTOR in neurons within their retinas. They found that as long as the newborns remained inside an intact amniotic sac, mTOR levels stayed high, suggesting that this protein is essential for maintaining nerve growth.

But what triggered the sudden decline in mTOR activity? The researchers discovered that it was not simply the transition from a warm womb to a cooler external environment. In separate tests, they kept newborn pups at 37°C, matching the temperature of their mother's uterus, and found no change in mTOR activity.

Further experiments were conducted in controlled gas environments where oxygen levels could be manipulated. Interestingly, even when the researchers reduced oxygen levels in the air, mTOR activity still shut down, pointing to another factor as the trigger for this decline.

Increasing CO2 levels had a surprising effect on mTOR activity. When researchers raised the concentration of CO2 in the air to 10 per cent, they found that it prevented the decline in mTOR activity that normally occurs when animals breathe out.

Further investigation revealed that exhaling CO2 triggers the shutdown of mTOR by causing an increase in pH levels inside cells as the gas is depleted. This rise in acidity seems to be the key factor responsible for the loss of mTOR activity.

In a striking contrast, adult mice that breathed air containing 10 per cent CO2 showed a complete reversal of the mTOR decline across various tissues including brain, heart and muscle. Moreover, their neurons' ability to regenerate after injury was restored to normal levels.

The findings suggest that the drop in CO2 levels during exhalation may be the primary cause of regenerative failure not just in neurons but potentially across multiple organs.

The findings suggest that inhaling CO2 may have a positive effect on nerves' ability to regenerate, potentially opening up new avenues for research into regenerative medicine.

However, any potential therapeutic applications would require further investigation to determine safe and effective levels of CO2 exposure, as well as the potential risks associated with it. He emphasizes the importance of medical supervision when exploring this approach.

The study's findings also have broader implications for our understanding of evolution, highlighting the relationship between breathing patterns and regenerative abilities across different species. In particular, vertebrates that breathe through gills or lose CO2 through their skin tend to possess higher regeneration capacities than mammals and birds, which rely on air and lungs.

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Source: [New Scientist](https://www.newscientist.com/article/2596332-inhaling-co2-rescues-nerves-ability-to-regrow/?utm_campaign=RSS|NSNS&utm_content=home&utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=NSNS)  
Published by News Central Site: https://newscentral.site/research-finds-link-between-breathing-and-nerve-regeneration-ability/