This study is reported in the November issue of Nature Neuroscience. A report presented at the 49th Annual Meeting of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons held in Boston in November describes potential treatment in which specific white blood cells are used to treat spinal cord injury. The technique involves taking these white blood cells from the injured patient, processing them, and then injecting them into the spinal cord at the site of the injury. Therapy must be initiated within 5 to 14 days of injury, and if successful, regeneration would occur within 9 to 12 months following treatment. As reported in the November 19th issue of the journal Science, a new treatment to destroy nerve cells responsible for long-term pain has been successfully tested on rats.
Chronic pain is believed to occur when neurons in the spinal cord send faulty signals.
The study done at the University of Minnesota uses a substance toxic to neurons injected into the spinal cord. Fine-tuning of the approach is required to temporarily shut down neurons without destroying them because the treatment in its current form also destroys nerve cells that are needed by the body. Nasal Tissue Treatment of Brain Injury and Disease Cells in the nose constantly regenerate to maintain our sense of smell. These cells could then be used to treat spinal injury and conditions such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis. However, it will be at least five years before this treatment will be available.