Skin stem cells used to mend spines of rats
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Toronto research shows injured subjects walking better after
injections
Sep 06, 2007 04:30 AM
Megan Ogilvie
Health Reporter
A Toronto-led team of researchers has found a way to use stem cells
derived from skin to treat spinal cord injuries in rats.
The finding lends promise to the idea that stem cells could one day
be used to heal spinal cord injuries in humans, helping thousands of
Canadians to walk again.
Injured rats injected with skin-derived stem cells regained mobility
and had better walking co-ordination, according to the study
published yesterday in the Journal of Neuroscience. The skin-derived
stem cells, injected directly into the injured rats' spinal cords,
were able to survive in their new location and set off a flurry of
activity, helping to heal the cavity in the cord.
Freda Miller, a senior scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children
and lead author of the study, said skin-derived stem cells have some
advantages over other stem cell types. Scientists who use skin to
generate stem cells do not need to use embryos, for example, and skin-
derived stem cells can potentially be harvested from patients
themselves, she said.
"You can imagine a scenario for people with spinal cord injuries,
that maybe, just maybe, we could take a piece of their skin, grow the
cells up and transplant them (the patient) with their own cells," she
said. "You wouldn't have to give them immunosuppressive drugs. That's
a tremendous clinical advantage if it comes true."
Miller and her colleagues from The Hospital for Sick Children and the
University of British Columbia have been exploring the possibilities
of using skin to derive stem cells since 2001.
Over the course of their research, the team found that skin-derived
stem cells share characteristics with embryonic neural stem cells,
which generate the nervous system. They also showed skin-derived stem
cells can produce Schwann cells, a cell type that creates a good
growth environment to repair injured central nervous system axons –
the long nerve cell fibres that conduct electrical impulses between
nerves – and that these Schwann cells put down myelin along the
injured spinal cord. Like the insulation around an electrical cord,
myelin wraps around nerves, creating a sheath that helps quickly
conduct nerve impulses.
Miller said the next step was to see whether transplanting the
Schwann cells directly into spinal cords would help treat injured
rats.
To test their hypothesis, Miller and her team generated stem cells
from the skin of rats and mice and forced them to differentiate into
Schwann cells, which were then transplanted into the rats. After 12
weeks, the rats were able to walk better, with more co-ordination.
Miller said the cells thrived within the injured spinal cord. Before
treatment, the injured rats had a cavity in their spinal cord, a
result of their injury. But after treatment, Miller said the Schwann
cells had created a bridge that spanned the cavity, and helped nerves
grow through the bridge.
The next step is to see whether stem cells derived from human skin
can produce similar results.
"We are highly encouraged," said Miller.
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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