In a collaboration between Cambridge University’s Veterinary School and MRC’s Regenerative Medicine Centre, scientists used a unique type of cell to regenerate the damaged part of the dogs’ spines. The researchers are cautiously optimistic that the work could have a future role in the treatment of human patients with similar injuries if used alongside other treatments.
Scientists have been aware for over a decade that olfactory ensheathing cells (OEC) might be useful in treating the damaged spinal cord because of their unique properties. The cells have the ability to support nerve fibre growth that maintains a pathway between the nose and the brain.
Previous research using laboratory animals has already revealed that OECs can aid regeneration of the parts of nerve cells that transmit signals (axons) so as to form a ‘bridge’ between damaged and undamaged spinal cord tissue. A Phase 1 trial in human patients with SCI established that the procedure is safe.
The study, published in the latest issue of the neurology journal Brain, is the first double-blinded randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness of these transplants to improve function in ‘real-life’ spinal cord injury. The trial was performed on animals that had spontaneous and accidental injury rather than in the controlled environment of a laboratory, and some time after the injury occurred. This far more closely resembles the way in which the procedure might be used in human patients.
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Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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First randomised controlled trial to show spinal cord regeneration in dogs
20 November 2012
Researchers have shown it is possible to restore co-ordinated limb movement in dogs with severe spinal cord injury (SCI).