The Future of Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation

 The approach to researching spinal cord injuries and their treatments are way different than treatments in other tissues where cells have the ability to repair. After a spinal cord injury, axons of neurons become severed/demyelinated. There is little to no recovery of nervous tissue function and tissue degeneration is progressive. It is not that the neuron is incapable of neuroplasticity, rather it is prevented by its environment because the immune system initiates scar tissue formation around the contusion as a barrier to contain the injury. This makes it hard for axons to regenerate and communicate with each other. Li et al. used a nanofiber-hydrogel composite (NHC) to modulate inflammation after spinal cord injury in rodents. The article “‘Dancing Molecules’ Successfully Repair Severe Spinal Cord Injuries” by Northwestern discusses recent research conducted by Alvarez et al. These researchers have engineered an injectable therapy using nanofibers in rodent models similar to Li et al. It is a supramolecular peptide fibril scaffold that includes two peptide sequences: one sequence focuses on inflammation and scarring whereas the other sequence promotes blood vessel formation. This therapy mimics the natural environment around the spinal cord where the molecules within the nanofibers move or “dance” out of the supramolecular polymers to engage with cell receptors. Morris states “This is the first study in which researchers controlled the collective motion of molecules through changes in chemical structure to increase a therapeutic’s efficacy” (Northwestern). Alvarez et al. hypothesized that if the molecules are dancing around, the probability that the molecules will meet up with the receptors is increased. They found that the more the molecules moved, the more successful the therapy was in recovering function in the mouse whose lower body was paralyzed. After a single injection into the rodent spinal cord, the animal was able to walk after four weeks. Many implications can be inferred from this research. The life expectancy and quality of life of spinal cord injury patients would be increased. However, the most important implication is that the supramolecular motion studied by Alvarez et al. can not only be applied to spinal cord injury therapy, but also other therapies as well.

Works Cited

Morris, Amanda | By Amanda Morris. 'Dancing Molecules' Successfully Repair Severe Spinal Cord Injuries, 11 Nov. 2021, https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2021/11/dancing-molecules-successfully-repair-severe-spinal-cord-injuries/.