Search Here

Stem cells are believed to hold the key for treatment of various diseases and ailments and is considered as the biggest hope of present day as well as future medicine. Researchers have constantly been trying to make use of the formidable stem cells towards intervention of many complicated medical conditions and one of the recent ones include regeneration of spinal cord fibers for the treatment of spinal injuries.

Spinal injury is devastating since the mobility of the human body is completely controlled by the spinal cord. Spinal cord helps in managing our weight and holds our body upright as well as controls the movement of our arms and limbs. The nerves that connect our arms and limbs to brain pass through the spinal cord and any injury would extensively damage our mobility.

The corticospinal tract (CST) in the spinal cord is of great importance since this is the region where nerve fibers that originate from brain travel through the brain stem and pass through the spinal cord. These fibers control all the motor functions of the body and any damage caused to them could result in paralysis, according to Consumer Affair.

By far stem cells were used in the treatment of regeneration of severed nerve fibers but only when the connective tissues of the region remained intact. When there was big gaps or breakage in the connective tissues regeneration of nerve fibers with the help of stem cells wasn't possible.

To resolve the issue researchers from Hokkaido University in Japan alongside a team of international scientists extracted neural progenitor cells from mice and developed them into spinal cord tissue. They were then implanted into the severed spinal cord of mice, reported NDTV.

Regeneration of nerve fibers was observed after implant and the mice were able to show movements in their forelimbs. The investigators also tried grafting of human neural stem cells into the severed spinal cord of mice and found that regeneration was possible across different species.

"The success of this current trial, reported in Nature Medicine, is promising for the future treatment of humans with severe spinal cord injuries. But much work remains to be done before it can be translated into clinical treatments. Further research is required to determine the best cell type to be used for grafting and for establishing safe grafting methods," noted Science Daily.