Stem cell therapy aids rats with spinal cord injuries

A new study using animals has further demonstrated the potential benefits that stem cell therapies can offer for acute spinal cord injury patients.

Scientists from the University of California, San Diego has led an international team in grafting neural stem cells derived from human foetal spinal cords to injury sites among rats affected by spine damage.

Doing so resulted in the animals experiencing improvements in the positioning and control of limbs during walking tests and the suppression of muscle spasticity, with robust engraftment and neuronal maturation of the implanted cells noted.

Moreover, the cysts or cavities that can form in or around spinal injuries were completely eliminated among the test animals, with the injury-caused cavity being filled by grafted cells.

Study co-author Dr Joseph Ciacci, professor of surgery and programme director of the neurosurgery residency at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, said: "This is exciting, especially because, historically, there has been very little to offer patients with acute spinal cord injury."

Spinal cord injury remains one of the most common causes of paralysis, alongside stroke, head injuries and multiple sclerosis.