With a direct traumatic injury to the spinal cord, the risks of losing nervous tissue cells which are detrimental to the signal relay from the brain to and from the rest of the body increases. The stress from such injuries can lead limited regeneration of those cells and subsequently, locomotor movements start to get affected. Usually, patients with spinal cord injuries undergo physical therapy to realign their spine and allow a better circulation of movement, which has been impaired as the bundles of nerve cells experience major stress. On critical cases, the patient might go through surgery to remove bone fragments that are causing more distress on the patient’s spine (“Spinal Cord Injury Information Page”). Although these two treatments help alleviate stress on the spinal cord and increase mobility, they don’t supply long-lasting results. Patients with spinal cords injuries tend to partake in rehabilitation physical therapy for the rest of their lives and in certain cases, those impaired nerve cells fail to regenerate which may increase the chances of a collapsed spinal cord and complications with mobility and sensation.
As scientific technology begins to improve with newfound methods, promising treatments for patients with spinal cord injuries begin to emerge. These treatments are looking to target long-lasting solutions for the damaged nerve cells to ensure a more comfortable and healthy quality of life. In 2018, New York Times published a news article revealing groundbreaking treatment that enabled three partly paralyzed men regain strength and mobility back with a neural signaling implant (Carey, 2018). Wagner et al (2018) innovated a neurotechnology that mimic the body’s own stimulation and neural signals to allow those impaired nerve cells and muscles located in the lumbosacral spine to reestablish locomotive control. The signals emitting from the neurotechnology occur simultaneously with intended movement, yet with extensive rehabilitation therapy, these once involuntary movements regained control and allowed the partly paralyzed patients (due to a traumatic spinal cord injury) to have voluntary mobility without the help of the delivered stimulations (Wagner et al., 2018). Although Wagner et al (2018) has showed significant results and helped restore lasting mobility, the researchers indicated that for maximum results, the neurotechnology most be implanted during the early stages of the spinal cord injury before the nerve tissues start to further degrade. This implication arises from the critical time window of plasticity for the impaired nerves and if it passes the critical time, there's a potential risk in which the signal pulses may not synch with the motor movements.
A nanofiber-hydrogel composite engineered by Li et al (2020) looks to find a resolution that will help with the deteriorating nerve tissues, without having to account for the diminishing plasticity as time goes by. This injectable innovation is still in its animal clinical trials, but it has shown significant improvements in the repair and regeneration of the injured spinal cord’s nervous tissues. Li et al (2020) devised the nanofiber-hydrogel with interfacial bonding that targets lesions cavity to increase mobility and strength in the spinal cord’s contusion. Their neurological innovation is revolutionary due to its ability to infiltrate the injury in a molecular level rather than a stimulating technology. By retaining the nerves’ strength, it stops the spinal cord from collapsing due to the deteriorating loss of nervous tissues as time progresses (Li et al., 2020). Even though the nanofiber-hydrogel has only been tested on adult rodents, Li et al (2020) have provided patients with spinal cord injuries a promising and hopefully, more permanent treatment for a better quality of life.
During my freshman year of high school, I experienced an acute injury to my spinal cord, which diminished my mobility of my left leg. Fortunately, rehabilitation physical therapy helped me regain mobility and reduce the involuntary muscle spasms. Innovations like those of Wagner et al (2018) and Li et al (2020) will drastically improve their lives and increase their ability to walk and control their movements. To witness a rise in scientific technology that’s helping the lives of others with traumatic spinal cords injuries, brings a lot of hope for what’s to come.
References:
Carey, Benedict. “Once Paralyzed, Three Men Take Steps Again with Spinal Implant.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 31 Oct. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/health/spine-surgery-paralysis.html.
Li, Xiaowei, et al. “The Effect of a Nanofiber-Hydrogel Composite on Neural Tissue Repair and Regeneration in the Contused Spinal Cord.” Biomaterials, vol. 245, 2020, p. 119978., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.119978.
“Spinal Cord Injury Information Page.” National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, June 2021, https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/All-Disorders/Spinal-Cord-Injury-Information-Page#disorders-r1.
Wagner, Fabien B., et al. “Targeted Neurotechnology Restores Walking in Humans with Spinal Cord Injury.” Nature, vol. 563, no. 7729, 2018, pp. 65–71., https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0649-2.
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