The brain is made of fat
Israeli scientists have created a spinal cord implant from human fat
Israeli scientists have created a spinal cord implant from human adipose tissue (let this cannibalism hang on the translator's conscience, in fact – from induced pluripotent stem cells – VM), which returned the lost ability to move to laboratory mice, in the future this discovery will allow paralyzed patients with spinal injuries to regain the ability to walk, the press service of Tel-The University of Aviv.
"For the first time in the world, researchers from the Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology at Tel Aviv University have created three-dimensional human spinal cord tissues and implanted them in laboratory mice with long-term chronic paralysis. The results were very encouraging: about 80% success in restoring the ability to walk," the research center said in a statement.
According to the head of the study, Professor Tal Dvir, for the production of the implant, scientists took a small amount of adipose tissue from the patients' abdomen by biopsy.
"After separating the cells from the extracellular matrix, we used genetic engineering to reprogram the cells, returning them to a state resembling embryonic stem cells, namely cells capable of becoming cells of any type in the body. We created a personalized hydrogel from the extracellular matrix, which would not cause an immune reaction or rejection after implantation. Then we implanted stem cells into a hydrogel, and in a process that mimics the embryonic development of the spinal cord, we turned the cells into three–dimensional implants of neural networks containing motor neurons," explained Professor Dvir.
Next, the scientists introduced spinal cord implants obtained in this way to laboratory mice divided into two groups – those who were recently paralyzed, and those who lost the ability to move a long time ago (in human terms, more than a year ago). After implantation, the ability to walk was restored by 100% of laboratory mice recently paralyzed, and 80% immobilized for a long time. The rehabilitation process in the experimental animals was fast. Scientists note that this result gives hope to millions of paralyzed patients around the world. "There are millions of people in the world who are paralyzed due to spinal injuries, and there is still no effective treatment for them. These are people who were injured at a very young age, who are destined to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of their lives, bearing all the social restrictions and significant financial costs due to paralysis. Our goal is to produce personalized spinal cord implants for any paralyzed person, allowing them to regenerate damaged tissue without the risk of rejection," summed up the results of the study by its head, Professor Dvir. Scientists hope to move to the stage of clinical trials in humans within the next few years. The results of the work are published in the scientific journal Advanced Science (Wertheim et al., Regenerating the Injured Spinal Cord at the Chronic Phase by Engineered iPSCs-Derived 3D Neuronal Networks).
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