Promising New Nanotechnology For Spinal Cord Injury
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ScienceDaily (Apr. 4, 2008) — A spinal cord injury often leads to permanent
paralysis and loss of sensation below the site of the injury because the
damaged nerve fibers can't regenerate. The nerve fibers or axons have the
capacity to grow again, but don't because they're blocked by scar tissue
that develops around the injury.
Northwestern University researchers have shown that a new nano-engineered
gel inhibits the formation of scar tissue at the injury site and enables the
severed spinal cord fibers to regenerate and grow. The gel is injected as a
liquid into the spinal cord and self -assembles into a scaffold that
supports the new nerve fibers as they grow up and down the spinal cord,
penetrating the site of the injury.
When the gel was injected into mice with a spinal cord injury, after six
weeks the animals had a greatly enhanced ability to use their hind legs and
walk.
The research is published in the April 2 issue of the Journal of
Neuroscience.
"We are very excited about this," said lead author John Kessler, M.D., Davee
Professor of Stem Cell Biology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School
of Medicine. "We can inject this without damaging the tissue. It has great
potential for treating human beings."
Kessler stressed caution, however, in interpreting the results. "It's
important to understand that something that works in mice will not
necessarily work in human beings. At this point in time we have no
information about whether this would work in human beings."
"There is no magic bullet or one single thing that solves the spinal cord
injury, but this gives us a brand new technology to be able to think about
treating this disorder," said Kessler, also the chair of the Davee
Department of Neurology at the Feinbeg School. "It could be used in
combination with other technologies including stem cells, drugs or other
kinds of interventions."
"We designed our self-assembling nanostructures -- the building blocks of
the gel -- to promote neuron growth," said co-author Samuel I. Stupp, Board
of Trustees Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry, and
Medicine and director of Northwestern's Institute for BioNanotechnology in
Medicine. "To actually see the regeneration of axons in the spinal cord
after injury is a fascinating outcome."
The nano-engineered gel works in several ways to support the regeneration of
spinal cord nerve fibers. In addition to reducing the formation of scar
tissue, it also instructs the stem cells --which would normally form scar
tissue -- to instead to produce a helpful new cell that makes myelin. Myelin
is a substance that sheaths the axons of the spinal cord to permit the rapid
transmission of nerve impulses.
The gel's scaffolding also supports the growth of the axons in two critical
directions -- up the spinal cord to the brain (the sensory axons) and down
to the legs (the motor axons.) "Not everybody realizes you have to grow the
fibers up the spinal cord so you can feel where the floor is. If you can't
feel where the floor is with your feet, you can't walk," Kessler said.
Now Northwestern researchers are working on developing the nano-engineered
gel to be acceptable as a pharmaceutical for the Food & Drug Administration.
If the gel is approved for humans, a clinical trial could begin in several
years.
"It's a long way from helping a rodent to walk again and helping a human
being walk again," Kessler stressed again. "People should never lose sight
of that. But this is still exciting because it gives us a new technology for
treating spinal cord injury."
Adapted from materials provided by Northwestern University, via EurekAlert!,
a service of AAAS.
Northwestern University (2008, April 4). Promising New Nanotechnology For
Spinal Cord Injury. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 4, 2008, from
http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2008/04/080402114819.htm