WASHINGTON – Injections of human stem cells seem to directly repair some of the damage caused by spinal cord injury, according to research that helped partially paralyzed mice walk again.
The experiment, reported Monday, isn’t the first to show that stem cells offer tantalizing hope for spinal cord injury – other scientists have helped mice recover, too.
But the new work went an extra step, suggesting the connections that the stem cells form to help bridge the damaged spinal cord are key to recovery.
Surprisingly, they didn’t just form new nerve cells. They also formed cells that create the biological insulation that nerve fibers need to communicate. A number of neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, involve loss of that insulation, called myelin.
“The actual cells that we transplanted, the human cells, are the ones that are making myelin,” said lead researcher Aileen Anderson of the University of California, Irvine. “We’re extremely excited about these cells.”
The research is reported in Monday’s issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Stem cells are building blocks that turn into different types of tissue. Embryonic stem cells in particular have made headlines recently, as scientists attempt to harness them to regenerate damaged organs or other body parts. They’re essentially a blank slate, able to turn into any tissue given the right biochemical instructions.
But they’re not the only type of stem cell. Anderson and colleagues used fetal neural stem cells, a type that are slightly more developed than embryonic stem cells because they’re destined to make cells for the central nervous system.
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