Key Advance In Treating Spinal Cord Injuries Found In Manipulating Stem Cells

[Max]

Key Advance In Treating Spinal Cord Injuries Found In Manipulating Stem Cells

ScienceDaily (Sep. 18, 2008) — Researchers in Rochester, N.Y., and Colorado have shown that manipulating stem cells prior to transplantation may hold the key to overcoming a critical obstacle to using stem cell technology to repair spinal cord injuries.

Research from a team of scientists from the University of Rochester Medical Center and the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, published today in the online Journal of Biology, may lead to improved spinal cord repair methods that pave the way for victims of paralysis to recover the use of their bodies without the risk of transplant-induced pain syndromes.
The research focuses on a major support cell in the central nervous system called astrocytes. When nerve fibers are injured in the spinal cord, the severed ends of the nerve fibers fail to regenerate and reconnect with the nervous system circuitry beyond the site of the injury. During early development, astrocytes are highly supportive of nerve fiber growth, and scientists believe that if properly directed, these cells could play a key role in regenerating damaged nerves in the spinal cord.
The Rochester team – which consists of biomedical geneticists Chris Proschel, Ph.D., Margot Mayer-Proschel, Ph.D., and Mark Noble, Ph.D. – are pioneers in manipulating stem cells to generate nervous system cells that can be used for therapeutic treatments. Rather than transplanting naïve stem cells, the team has adopted an approach of pre-differentiating stem cells into better defined populations of brain cells. These are then selected for their ability to promote recovery. Here glial restricted precursor (GRP) cells – a population of stem cells that can give rise to several different types of brain cell – were induced to make two different astrocyte sub-types using different growth factors that promote cell formation during normal development. Although these astrocytes are made from the same stem cell population, they apparently have very distinct characteristics and functions
"These studies are particularly exciting in addressing two of the most significant challenges to the field of stem cell medicine – defining the optimal cell for repair and identifying means by which inadequately characterized stem cell approaches may actually cause harm," said Noble, who is also co-director of the New State Center of Research Excellence in Spinal Cord Injury, one of the primary funders of the research.
The research team in Colorado, which consisted of Stephen Davies, Ph.D. and Jeannette Davies, Ph.D., transplanted the two types of astrocytes into the injured spinal cords of rats and found dramatically different outcomes. One type of astrocyte was remarkably effective at promoting nerve regeneration and functio

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0918192939.htm

[manouli]

Rochester Doctors at Forefront of Stem Cell Breakthrough
Reported by: WROC-TV
Friday, Sep 19, 2008 @01:15pm EST


Researchers in Rochester working with stem cells may have made a breakthrough in spinal cord repair.

According to a study in the Journal of Biology online, the work may help paralysis victims recover without transplant-induced pain syndromes.




http://rochesterhomepage.net/content...ext/?cid=33591



http://jbiol.com/content/7/7/24