Neural Stem Cells Regenerate Axons in Severe Spinal Cord Injury

In a study at the University of California, San Diego and VA San Diego Healthcare, researchers were able to regenerate ''an astonishing degree'' of axonal growth at the site of severe spinal cord injury in rats. 

Their research revealed that early stage neurons have the ability to survive and extend axons to form new, functional neuronal relays across an injury site in the adult central nervous system (CNS).

The study also proved that at least some types of adult CNS axons can overcome a normally inhibitory growth environment to grow over long distances.  Importantly, stem cells across species exhibit these properties. The work will be published in the journal Cell on 14 September.

The scientists embedded neural stem cells in a matrix of fibrin (a protein key to blood clotting that is already used in human neuron procedures), mixed with growth factors to form a gel.  The gel was then applied to the injury site in rats with completely severed spinal cords.

''Using this method, after six weeks, the number of axons emerging from the injury site exceeded by 200-fold what had ever been seen before,'' said Mark Tuszynski, MD, PhD, professor in the University of California San Diego Department of Neurosciences and director of the UCSD Center for Neural Repair, who headed the study. ''The axons also grew 10 times the length of axons in any previous study and, importantly, the regeneration of these axons resulted in significant functional improvement.''

In addition, adult cells above the injury site regenerated into the neural stem cells, establishing a new relay circuit that could be measured electrically. ''By stimulating the spinal cord four segments above the injury and recording this electrical stimulation three segments below, we detected new relays across the transaction site,'' said Tuszynski.