Writing in the journal Stem
Cells Translational Medicine, an international research team, led
by physician-scientists at University of California San Diego School of
Medicine, describe a new method for delivering neural precursor cells (NSCs) to
spinal cord injuries in rats, reducing the risk of further injury and boosting
the propagation of potentially reparative cells.
The findings are
published in the Jan. 29, 2020 print issue.
NSCs hold great
potential for treating a variety of neurodegenerative diseases and injuries to
the spinal cord. The stem cells possess the ability to differentiate into
multiple types of neural cell, depending upon their environment. As a result,
there is great interest and much effort to use these cells to repair spinal
cord injuries and effectively restore related functions.
But current
spinal cell delivery techniques, said Martin Marsala, MD, professor in the
Department of Anesthesiology at UC San Diego School of Medicine, involve direct
needle injection into the spinal parenchyma — the primary cord of nerve fibers
running through the vertebral column. “As such, there is an inherent risk of
(further) spinal tissue injury or intraparechymal bleeding,” said Marsala.
The new
technique is less invasive, depositing injected cells into the spinal subpial
space — a space between the pial membrane and the superficial layers of the
spinal cord.
“This injection
technique allows the delivery of high cell numbers from a single injection,”
said Marsala. “Cells with proliferative properties, such as glial progenitors,
then migrate into the spinal parenchyma and populate over time in multiple
spinal segments as well as the brain stem. Injected cells acquire the functional
properties consistent with surrounding host cells.”
Marsala, senior
author Joseph Ciacci, MD, a neurosurgeon at UC San Diego Health, and colleagues
suggest that subpially-injected cells are likely to accelerate and improve
treatment potency in cell-replacement therapies for several spinal
neurodegenerative disorders in which a broad repopulation by glial cells, such
as oligodendrocytes or astrocytes, is desired.
“This may
include spinal traumatic injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and multiple
sclerosis,” said Ciacci.
The researchers
plan to test the cell delivery system in larger preclinical animal models of
spinal traumatic injury that more closely mimic human anatomy and size. “The
goal is to define the optimal cell dosing and timing of cell delivery after
spinal injury, which is associated with the best treatment effect,” said
Marsala.
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