New Approach May Boost Spinal Cord Repair
Transplants involving immature, stem cell-generated nervous system "support cells" helped repair damaged spinal cords in rats, researchers report.
The support cells, called astrocytes, were generated in tissue culture from stem cell-like cells called glial-restricted precursors. Researchers at the New York State Center of Research Excellence in Spinal Cord Injury say transplanting astrocytes led to much better outcomes than transplanting stem cells alone.
The finding challenges current concepts of how to use stem cells to promote tissue repair, the study authors said.
The transplanted astrocytes promoted the rapid growth of 40 percent of sensory nerve fibers across cuts made in the spinal cords of adult rats. The cells also aligned damaged tissue at the injury site and suppressed the formation of scar tissue.
The researchers also found that neurons in the brain that normally degenerate if their nerve fibers are severed in the spinal cord were rescued when their cut nerve fibers interacted with the transplanted astrocytes.
Rats that received the astrocytes were able to walk within two weeks, while rats that received undifferentiated precursor cells still had difficulty walking after four weeks, the research team reported.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about
spinal cord injuries.
