A team of US scientists from the University of Georgia and other academic institutions has found that the popular garden flower gardenia has the potential to restore nerves. The study is published in the scientific journal Science Translational Medicine (STM). The team found a compound called genipin in the plant that enhances the regeneration of damaged neurons. Genipin is seen as a potential treatment for a rare degenerative disorder of the nervous system caused by a gene mutation. The condition is known as familial dysautonomia, which manifests in infancy. It is caused by a point mutation in the ELP1 gene. The disease affects breathing, body temperature regulation, blood pressure, and the ability to form tears. As the disease progresses, patients can develop abnormal heart rhythms, curvature of the spine, inability to feel pain, loss of vision, poor breathing control, especially during sleep, and increased susceptibility to lung infections. In experiments, the team found that genipin not only restored proper and developing sensory neurons in patients with familial dysautonomia, but also prevented early cell degeneration. The substance from gardenias also improved peripheral nerve formation in tests on mice. Finally, genipin enhanced the regeneration of severed axons into healthy and sensory and cortical neurons when added to nerve cell cultures. The scientists expect that their discovery will help create new drugs to treat neurological diseases.