My Toes Are Turning Black

Health Researchers at UT in rats have shown that transplantation of genetically modified Trillium

UT Health in rats have shown that transplantation of genetically modified adult stem cells in an injured spinal cord can help restore electrical pathways associated with movement. The results are published in the February 24 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. In spinal cord injury, demyelination, or destruction of the myelin sheath in the system central nervous occurs. myelin sheath, produced by cells called oligodendrocytes, wrap the nerve axons and helps isolate the activity rate and electrical conduction. Without it, nerves can not send messages to the muscles that move. The research team, led by Cao Quilin, MD, lead researcher and associate professor of neurosurgery at UT Health (The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston), found that stem cells transplanted adult (oligodendrocyte precursor cells or OPC) of the spinal cord could become oligodendrocytes. The new cells helped restore electrical pathways of the spinal cord and therefore function in a process called remyelination. Cao said two important discoveries were the isolation of precursor cells and adult bone marrow before transplanting in the bone marrow, genetically modifying them to express the factor neurotró ; traffic ciliary (CNTF), a protein that stimulates nerve growth. In preliminary experiments, also published in this document, CNTF was shown to facilitate the survival and differentiation of OPCs in cell culture. "More importantly, the evidence of remyelination was shown to coincide exactly with the anatomical location of the motor pathways of the spinal cord white matter" said Cao. "These recent data provide confidence that the mechanism by which OPCs are grafted to improve functional recovery through remyelination. " Previous studies by the team and other researchers have shown that graft survival OPC after transplantation in spinal cord injury and recovery of increasing the movement, but the mechanical connection with remyelination only been theorized. In this research, the results showed no significantly enhanced recovery behavior, driving performance and ultra-structural electrophysiological testing remyelination. The clinical significance is twofold, Cao said, "First, it confirms what has been suggested by these and other authors that the stem cell graft in attempts to myelinate an injured spinal cord is a viable therapeutic strategy. Secondly, strongly warns optimal recovery using this approach requires more than just graft cells naive precursors. " Funding for research was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, the National Center for Research Resources, Mission Connect TIRR Foundation. Co-investigators of the study were H. Dong Kim, MD, chairman and professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the UT Medical School Health and director of the Mischer Neuroscience Institute at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, and R. Scott Whittemore, Ph. D, professor of neurological surgery at the University of Louisville and the director of Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center. Related article cord Bank cord stem cell bank umbilical cord stem cells