Sunday, January 12, 2014

Stem Cell Salvage of injured peripheral nerve

And whom is going to extrapolate this to using it to repair damaged stroke brains? That great stroke association that doesn't exist yet?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24268028

Abstract

We previously developed a collagen tube filled with autologous skin?derived stem cells (SDSCs) for bridging long rat sciatic nerve gaps. Here we present a case report describing a compassionate use of this graft for repairing poly?injured motor and sensory nerves of upper arms of a patient. Preclinical assessment was performed with collagen?SDSCs implantation in rats after sectioning sciatic nerve. For the patient, during the 3?year follow?up period, functional recovery of injured median and ulnar nerves was assessed by pinch gauge test and static two?point discrimination and touch test with monofilaments, along with electrophysiological and MRI examinations. Preclinical experiments in rats revealed rescue of sciatic nerve and no side effects of patient?derived SDSCs transplantation (30 and 180 days of treatment). In the patient treatment, motor and sensory functions of the median nerve demonstrated ongoing recovery post?implantation during the follow?up period. The results indicate that the collagen/SDSCs artificial nerve graft could be used for surgical repair of larger defects in major lesions of peripheral nerves, increasing patient quality of life by saving the upper arms from amputation.

1 comment:

  1. I hope and believe that someday stem cells will be useful for brain injuries and many other things. That is why I spent a small fortune to bank both of my son's stem cells from their cord blood at birth. While I hope we never need it, I feel better knowingwe saved it and are supporting the research that will hopefully find uses for it!

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