A University of Arkansas biomedical engineering researcher has been awarded a grant to improve treatments for spinal cord injuries by developing a new drug delivery method using stem cells. (excerpt)
Category: Stem cells
Spinal cord injury (SCI) often leads to impaired motor and sensory functions, partially because the injury-induced neuronal loss cannot be easily replenished through endogenous mechanisms. In vivo neuronal reprogramming has emerged as a novel technology to regenerate neurons from endogenous glial cells by forced expression of neurogenic transcription factors. We have previously demonstrated successful astrocyte-to-neuron conversion in mouse brains with injury or Alzheimer’s disease by overexpressing a single neural transcription factor NeuroD1. Here we demonstrate regeneration of spinal cord neurons from reactive astrocytes after SCI through AAV NeuroD1-based gene therapy. We find that NeuroD1 converts reactive astrocytes into neurons in the dorsal horn of stab-injured spinal cord with high efficiency (~95%). Interestingly, NeuroD1-converted neurons in the dorsal horn mostly acquire glutamatergic neuronal subtype, expressing spinal cord-specific markers such as Tlx3 but not brain-specific markers such as Tbr1, suggesting that the astrocytic lineage and local microenvironment affect the cell fate after conversion. Electrophysiological recordings show that the NeuroD1-converted neurons can functionally mature and integrate into local spinal cord circuitry by displaying repetitive action potentials and spontaneous synaptic responses. We further show that NeuroD1-mediated neuronal conversion can occur in the contusive SCI model with a long delay after injury, allowing future studies to further evaluate this in vivo reprogramming technology for functional recovery after SCI. In conclusion, this study may suggest a paradigm shift from classical axonal regeneration to neuronal regeneration for spinal cord repair, using in vivo astrocyte-to-neuron conversion technology to regenerate functional new neurons in the gray matter.
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have created a drug that can lure stem cells to damaged tissue and improve treatment efficacy — a scientific first and major advance for the field of regenerative medicine. The discovery, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could improve current stem cell therapies designed to treat such neurological disorders as spinal cord injury, stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?(ALS) and other neurodegenerative disorders; and expand their use to new conditions, such as heart disease or arthritis. (excerpt)
Neil Riordan, PhD speaks at the Riordan-McKenna Institute and Stem Cell Institute fall seminar in Southlake, Texas on October 10, 2015.
Recruitment Status : Not yet recruiting
First Posted : June 7, 2019
Last Update Posted : October 27, 2020
Dr. Roberta Shapiro, Assistant Clinical Professor at Columbia University Medical Center discusses the “Wild West of Stem Cells in the United States. She touches upon topics that include: promises of “miracle” cures for a wide variety of diseases and conditions, unwarranted warnings of danger, FDA oversight, types of stem cell treatments and other treatments such as PRP, safety, sham clinical trials, and how to properly assess a lab.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-12/ai-scj110620.php#
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — October 20th, 2020 — New work published in the scientific journal Stem Cells by investigators from the Stem Cell Institute at the University of Minnesota describes a scientific breakthrough that could help accelerate development of new treatments for neurological conditions. Researchers from the laboratories of Drs. James R. Dutton and Ann M. Parr for the first time overcame a major “speed limit” in manufacturing human neurons from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). (excerpt)
Recruitment Status : Recruiting
First Posted : July 21, 2017
Last Update Posted : September 11, 2020
A study published in Cell Stem Cell has demonstrated that implanted neural stem cells can form connections not only between themselves but also with the host’s own neural network in mice. (excerpt)