Spine injury 'may be treated with marrow cells'RSS Feed

The transplantation of readily-available mono-nuclear bone marrow cells could provide an alternative to the use of bone marrow stromal cells in patients with spinal cord injury, according to new research.

Amer F Samdani and his colleagues at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia carried out a study on rats, publishing their results in a recent issue of Spine, HealthDay News reports.

Spinal cord injuries in two groups of six rats were treated with direct injections of the newly-tested mono-nuclear fraction of bone marrow or the more traditional bone marrow stromal cells.

After three weeks, it was concluded that histological determinants for transplant efficiency such as effects on glial scarring and macrophage responses, were comparable in both groups of rats.

The team explained: "Future studies will further elucidate the potential benefits of mono-nuclear fraction of bone marrow specifically regarding the mechanism of action and the cell composition after transplantation into clinically relevant contusion injury models by either direct injection or minimally invasive delivery."

Recently, scientists at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto identified a stem cell in human skin that can generate non-skin cell types, with hopes that this knowledge can be transferred to spinal cord injury research.

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