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Bengaluru
Researchers in Hyderabad are developing a new strategy for the treatment of spinal cord injury (SCI) for which there is currently no satisfactory treatment.
The spinal cord is a bundle of nerves that pbades through the middle of the back and transmits signals between the body and the brain.
SCI, which disrupts signals that cause temporary or permanent changes in function, is a medical emergency. Its treatment requires the restoration of the structural and functional aspects of the damaged neurological tissues of the spinal cord.
Recent developments have shown that transplantation of "human neural precursor cells" could potentially reconstruct the neural network at the site of the lesion in patients with SCI.
However, to provide a better treatment, the grafted precursor cells must survive long enough and differentiate into neuronal cells, which are functional units of the nervous system.
This remains a difficult task.
Researchers from the Deccan College of Medical Sciences (DCMC) and Dr. Habeebullah Life Sciences – both based in Hyderabad – report on a strategy to achieve these goals. They successfully evaluated their approach in an animal model.
Their study, published in the journal "Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology", describes a translational approach of "functional neurological constructs of bioengineering for the treatment of SCI lesions".
To explain, DCMC scientist Aleem Ahmed Khan, the journal's corresponding author, said their strategy involved the growth of nerve cells on biological constructions – or scaffolds that act as a three-dimensional platform.
"During a transplant (in a patient), these constructs can work long-term and help regenerate the nerves affected by (SCI)."
As a specific tissue, the biological construct is immunologically tolerable and is enriched with several essential "neurotrophins" – small proteins – needed to regenerate damaged neural networks at the damaged spinal cord, Khan said in an email at IANS.
"Developing such scaffolds that provide mechanical and biological support for the long-term survival and function of neurological cells is highly desirable and can potentially change treatment strategies in spinal cord and other neurodegenerative applications," he said. declared.
"The construction of a scaffold loaded with immunologically acceptable cells is an interesting development," said Praansen Kumar Vemula, a researcher at the Bengaluru Institute of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at IANS. "This research has shown encouraging direction, which still needs to be evaluated."
According to the researchers, the applicability of genetically engineered constructs was tested by transplanting them into Wister rats.
Khan said: "All animals survived the entire duration of the study (14 days after transplantation), which revealed that these constructs are immunocompatible." They conclude that modified neuronal constructs, as natural biological scaffolds, were well tolerated by the host and could be "one of the possible options" for the regeneration of neuronal connections damaged by SCI.
"Further preclinical testing and optimization of this approach on animal models will likely provide a more authentic roadmap for approaches to its future clinical applicability," their report says.
IANS
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