Stem cells effectively treat spinal cord injury

New research from Uppsala universitet, Sweden scientists showed staggering results of treatment of spinal cord injury with stem cells.The results, which are published June 8, 2015 in the journal Scientific Reports, showed that transplanting stem cells into the spinal cord injury site, restoring some sensory functions.

Traffic accidents, falls and other injuries of the spine can lead to rupture of the spinal nerves, which entails damage to the innervation of the extremities, can cause paralysis, loss of sensation or chronic pain.
Surgical interventions can help the patient regain some muscle function, but there is currently no treatment able to restore sensory functions. The reason for this is the emergence of a “barrier” at the junction between the ruptured nerve fibers and the spinal cord which prevents them from growing into the spinal cord and restore lost nerve connections.

In a new study the PhD students Jan Hoeber, Niclas König and Carl Trolle, working in Dr.Elena Kozlova’s research group transplanted human stem cells to an avulsion injury in mice with the aim to restore a functional route for sensory information from peripheral tissues into the spinal cord.

The results showed that the transplanted stem cells began to act as a “bridge” which allowed a damaged nerve fibers “grow together” with the spinal cord and rebuild functional neural connections, and thereby achieve long-term recovery of basic sensory functions.

The transplanted stem cells with time differentiated into various cell types with different degrees of maturation specific to the nervous system. No signs of cancer or other functional abnormalities after transplantation in the course of the experiment was observed. All results were carefully monitored because of the risk in the use of embryonic stem cells.

Obtained successful results give hope for further successful development of studies and the possibility of using stem cells to treat spinal cord injuries in the future.