Life for patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) can be extraordinarily difficult. These injuries resulting from birthing complications, fatal motor vehicular accidents, falls, and physically violent encounters, can dramatically affect the physical and emotional states of an individual’s life. Spinal cord and nervous tissue damage affects the transmission of nerve signals from the brain to the rest of the body (“Spinal Cord Injury”). Consequences may include loss of mobility and sensation in the upper or lower region of the body (“U.S. Department of Health and Human Services”). Historically, damages to these areas have been the most difficult to repair and regenerate.
However, recent ongoing research has shown promising treatments to reverse the effects of SCI injuries. In the article,“The effect of a nanofiber-hydrogel composite on neural tissue repair and regeneration in the contused spinal cord,” authored by Dr. Xiaowei Li et al., an injectable nanofiber hyaluronic hydrogel (NHC) composite was engineered to provide mechanical support and repair damaged neuronal tissue and blood vessels in the area of contusion. In this study, rats were ethically used as subjects to test the effects of NHC. When compared to the control group, the results revealed that the hydrogel improved the innervation at contused spinal cord segments including neurogenesis and angiogenesis after 28 days. This is due to the ability of NHC to “imitate biological features of native extracellular matrix, which may facilitate tissue regeneration and repair…[and] serve as scaffolds for axonal growth” (Li et al). These findings serve as an optimistic preview to the future of therapeutics.
In parallel, Dr. Zaida Alvarez from Northwestern University, published a similar paper with promising results. In her paper “Bioactive scaffolds with enhanced supramolecular motion promote recovery from spinal cord injury”, Alvarez et al. designed an injectable scaffold of supramolecular peptide signaling sequences, or bioactive molecules. Also known as “dancing molecules” this novel treatment controls the motion of these molecules so that they can bind to receptors and improve cellular communication between axons and the rest of the body. This method has potential for “regenerative signaling because of the easy tunability of signal density, their ability to architecturally mimic the high-persistence length of natural [extracellular matrix] fibrils, and their rapid biodegradation after they serve their function” (Alvarez et al.). The results showed that the bioactive molecules trigger cells to regenerate axons, reduce glial scarring tissue, reform the myelin sheath to transmit electrical impulses, promote blood vessels formation, and amplify the number of surviving motor neurons (Alvarez et al). The researchers also found that with therapy, paralyzed mice had increased agility, and increased bioactivity and cellular communication in human cell lines within four weeks (Alvarez et al).
These ground-breaking studies can have many positive implications for the advancement of repair and cure for traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. While the central idea to Li’s study is to design a composite for mechanical support and regeneration of damaged tissue, Alvarez’s work aims to introduce and manipulate molecular mechanisms to enhance neuronal regeneration. I would be interested in understanding if it would be possible to supplement these forms of therapy with each other for a form of long term treatment in patients. Neuroscience is an ever-evolving field which holds incredible potential to progress the future, and I am fascinated to how it will benefit people in the time ahead!
References
Morris, A. (2021, November 11). 'dancing molecules' successfully repair severe spinal cord injuries. 'Dancing molecules' successfully repair severe spinal cord injuries. Retrieved March 4, 2022, from https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2021/11/dancing-molecules-successfully-repair-severe-spinal-cord-injuries/
Spinal Cord Injury. Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine. (2020, August 18). Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/rehab/staywell/spinal-cord-injury
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2021, June 4). Spinal Cord Injury Information Page. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/All-Disorders/Spinal-Cord-Injury-Information-Page
Álvarez, Z., Kolberg-Edelbrock, A. N., Sasselli, I. R., Ortega, J. A., Qiu, R., Syrgiannis, Z., Mirau, P. A., Chen, F., Chin, S. M., Weigand, S., Kiskinis, E., & Stupp, S. I. (2021). Bioactive scaffolds with enhanced supramolecular motion promote recovery from Spinal Cord Injury. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 374(6569), 848–856. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abh3602
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