Gel to repair spinal cord injuries

Spinal cord injuries often lead to irreversible paralysis and loss of sensitivity below the injured area. Motor processes of nerve cells – axons forming nerve fibers – can be restored, but this process is hindered by the formation of scar tissue around the injury zone.

Scientists at Northwestern University (Chicago, USA), working under the guidance of Professor John Kessler, have demonstrated that the gel they created suppresses the formation of scar tissue at the site of injury and, thus, allows damaged nerve fibers to regenerate and grow. The gel is injected into the spinal cord, where the colloidal particles that make up it form a framework that supports new nerve fibers as they grow along the spinal cord and allows them to get through the damage zone.

The gel not only suppresses the formation of scar tissue, but also stimulates stem cells, usually involved in this process, to divide to form cells that synthesize myelin, a substance covering the axons of the spinal cord and providing rapid transmission of nerve impulses.

The gel frame promotes the growth of axons in two directions: up the spinal cord towards the brain (sensitive axons) and down to the legs (motor).

The introduction of such a gel to mice with spinal cord injuries for six weeks significantly improved the animals' ability to use their hind limbs and walk. The authors believe that this technique has great potential in relation to humans.

At the same time, Kessler emphasizes that the data obtained must be interpreted with great caution, since the results obtained in experiments on mice are not always confirmed during clinical trials.

Currently, the authors are busy developing a gel variant that could receive official approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If officially approved, clinical trials of the gel will begin in the next few years.

Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of ScienceDaily

07.04.2008