Scientists Developed New Therapy That Reverses Paralysis, Promotes 'Functional Recovery' From Spinal Cord Injury

A team of researchers from Northwestern University engineered a new technology that promotes "functional recovery" from paralysis due to spinal cord injury in mice. Researchers hope this may point to similar breakthroughs in human medicine.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke said that people with spinal cord injury lost nerve function, leading to paralysis in most of the body and could affect all limbs (tetraplegia or quadriplegia) or affect only the legs and lower body (paraplegia). The recent breakthrough might help people suffering from paralysis and help them move or walk again.

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Scientists Developed New Therapy That Reverses Paralysis, Promoting "Functional Recovery" From Spinal Cord Injury

Groundbreaking Technology Promotes Functional Recovery on Paralyzed Patients

In the study, titled "Bioactive Scaffolds With Enhanced Supramolecular Motion Promote Recovery From Spinal Cord Injury," published in Science, researchers described a new injectable therapy that harnesses dancing molecules to reverse paralysis and treat spinal cord injury.

According to their press release, researchers said that they administered a single injection of tissues surrounding the damaged cells of paralyzed mice. After four weeks, they noticed that the mice had regained their ability to walk.

Researchers explained that the bioactive signals triggered the cells to repair and regenerate, which improved outcomes of spinal cord injury in five ways:

Severed axons were regenerated.
Scar tissue significantly diminished.
myelin sheath reformed around cells
Functional blood vessels were formed in the injury site to deliver nutrients
More motor neurons are alive

Study lead author Samuel I. Stupp said their research aims to find a therapy that can prevent paralysis after major trauma or disease, which is a major challenge for scientists because the central nervous system does not have the capacity to repair itself after being injured or when hit by neurodegenerative disease.

The team is now applying for approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to get this new therapy ready for use in human patients as there are only a few treatment options available today.

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New Therapy's Secret Weapon is the Dancing Molecules

Nearly 300,000 people are currently living with spinal cord injury in the United States, according to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center. Living with paralysis is extraordinarily difficult as less than 3% of people with complete injury ever recover basic physical functions, while 30% are rehospitalized within the year after the injury, and the lifetime healthcare cost per patient is a lot.

Researchers said in the press release that their breakthrough therapy's secret is tuning the dancing molecules to properly engage constantly moving cellular receptors. When they are injected as a liquid, it immediately gets into a complex network of nanofibers that mimic the extracellular characteristics of the spinal cord that enable it to communicate with cells.

The dancing molecules trigger two cascading signals when connected to receptors. The first signal prompts axons to regenerate, while the second signal helps neurons to survive after injury to cause other cells to proliferate and promote regrowth of lost blood vessels that are critical for tissue repair. These two signals play a key role in spinal cord repair.