Novel Treatments for Spinal Cord Injuries

    Spinal cord injuries often leave patients in a state of pain and loss, with few treatment options that could assist in healing such an extreme injury. In March of 2020, one group of researchers published a paper with results that could change the landscape of this type of injury treatment far into the future. The article "The Effect of a Nanofiber-Hydrogel Composite on Neural Tissue Repair and Regeneration in the Contused Spinal Cord" by Xiaowei Li et al. introduces a novel treatment called a nanofiber-hydrogel composite (NHC) to assist in the healing process for spinal cord injuries in rats. The NHC used to treat these contusions was designed to be an injectable liquid (the hydrogel component) but mimic and uphold a structure similar to existing soft tissue in the spine (nanofiber component). After spinal cord injuries, there are often changes in the area affected such as thinning of the spinal cord and an increase in translucency (indicating weakness). In addition, the motor neurons in the area of injury are often severely affected, with lower amounts of functional neurons due to tissue scarring. Li et al. measured all of these factors in rats with NHC injected following a contusion to the base of the spinal cord. The results showed a reduction in translucency and spinal cord thinning as well as increased amounts of new blood cells, axons, and neurons. (Li et al. 2020) With these results, the research concluded with a hopeful look to the future and how these rat models could pave the way for a potential human treatment with such a successful amount of recovery at the injury site.

A more recent article provides a prudent extension of this same technology with promising results. Samuel Stupp and his lab team at Northwestern University performed an experiment published in the journal Science in November of 2021. They used a similar gel injection to Li’s experiment, but the contents differed. Stupp used dissolvable peptide polymers in the hydrogel, while Li used nanofiber components. Stupp injected this gel into mice with spinal cord injuries in a similar way that Li did, and also found increased healing capacity in factors such as regeneration of motor neurons, axons, and myelination (the protective sheath surrounding neurons). (Stupp et al. 2021) On of the biggest differences I noticed between these two major research findings was that Stupp et al. engineered their hydrogel mixture in a way to increase the internal motions of the fiber molecules creating the scaffold imitating the spinal tissue. They seemed to be very successful with this approach, while Li et al. seemed successful with their approach of inserting more stable and stationary nanofibers to imitate the tissue. As far as the future directions, Stupp makes a point of saying how the research points to a promising recovery option once more advanced technology is available to improve upon their work, ultimately leaving the case open for more advancements to be made. I find this research fascinating in the fact that these treatments could really pave a path towards a better recovery option for these types of injuries, and more is being developed and discovered every day. 

 

References:

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. 

Stupp, S., et al. “Bioactive Scaffolds with Enhanced Supramolecular Motion Promote Recovery from Spinal Cord Injury.” Science, vol. 374, no. 6569, 12 Nov. 2021, pp. 848–856., https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abh3602.