The spinal cord is the artery that travels from the brain to the tissues throughout the body. When it is damaged - e.g. as a result of an accident or disease - a person loses feeling and the ability to move forever. Spinal cord surgery could be a hope. Will doctors be able to develop an effective method of spinal cord regeneration?

Whyspinal cord surgeryis so exciting for specialists and lay people alike? The brain andspinal cord , i.e.central nervous system , cannot regenerate (unlike the liver, for example). Their damage is irreversible, because in the course of evolution they lost the possibility of self-healing. Why did this happen? Imagine that the brain regenerates after each damage. This means that the damaged nerve connections are replaced with new ones. As a result, we would have no memories or our own personality. But what is explainable for the brain is not logical for the core. The defense mechanism works "out of momentum", because the regeneration of the core does not violate the integrity of the personality, that is, the traces recorded in the brain. Therefore, scientists are trying to correct this oversight of nature. It seems that the reconstruction of the motorway, which is the spinal cord, will come faster than the construction of Polish highways.

Regeneration of the spinal cord using macrophages

In order to rebuild the spinal cord, it is necessary to support macrophages - large, mobile cells of the immune system that destroy bacteria and remove dead cells from tissues. This cleansing is a prerequisite for starting regeneration. Israeli scientists from the Weizmann Institute were the first to attempt to transfer macrophages from the peripheral to the central nervous system. They activated these cells in a rebuildable sciatic nerve (innervates the lower limb) and then transferred them to optic nerve fibers that run through the brain. They gained the ability to regenerate. After animal experiments, macrophage therapy has been carried out on humans since 1999. The first patient - a young American paralyzed after an accident - after months of treatment began to tighten her muscles, curl her toes, bend her legs at the knees and finally learn to walk. A Pole is also treated at the Weizmann Institute - the paralyzed area of ​​the body decreases, and the legs begin to obey the brain's commands.

Important

All lines of research into spinal cord regeneration are promising. Also attempts to place stem cells (obtained from umbilical cord blood) in sites of spinal cord damage. In some experiments, stem cells were used to create neurons rebuilding the continuity of the broken "highway".

Regeneration of the spinal cord with X-rays

The second obstacle created by nature is the activation of cells interrupting core reconstruction. Prof. However, Kaldren from New York proved that irradiation with X-rays inhibits their development. The rats that were irradiated after cutting the spinal cord could move their limbs over time. None of them returned to full fitness, but a step in the right direction was taken.

Spinal Cord Surgery: Glial Cells

The olfactory glial cells are hidden in the nose near the fibers of the olfactory neurons that connect the olfactory cells with the brain and play a nourishing and supportive role for them. It turns out that they still play the role of a "nanny" when placed over the broken fibers of the spinal cord. They form a bridge along which neurons "crawl" and restore communication between the two sections of the core. Rats subjected to this therapy regained full fitness. This type of spinal cord surgery was performed in October 2014 at the Department of Neurosurgery of the University Teaching Hospital in Wrocław.>>MORE ON THIS TOPIC

Spinal Cord Regeneration: Using Proteins

The regeneration of the core is also blocked by substances secreted by the nerve fibers themselves in the region of damage. These are proteins found in the protective sheaths of the nerve. But there was a way for that as well. Scientists have produced the IN-1 antibodies that bind and neutralize proteins that inhibit the reconstruction of nerve fibers. After applying them to the area of ​​the lesion, new nerve fibers began to grow back. The treated rats regained control of their paws in almost one hundred percent!

Scientists from Stockholm approached the problem differently. Damaged nerve cells outside the spinal cord can grow back because they don't produce proteins that inhibit this process. So they took neurons from the chest and transplanted into the place where the rat's spinal cord was severed. And it worked - the animal regained power in its paws. Not all methods that are effective on animals will have the same effect in humans, but they will approximate success. Therefore, repairing a severed spinal cord is only a matter of time.

monthly "Zdrowie"

Category:

Neurology