Nasal cells used to cure paralysis
Scientists have long been grappling with the issue of finding a way to cure paralysis. For patients unable to move without the support of an artificial source of stimulation, the issue of paralysis is even more pressing. However, those living a life with paralysis may soon find solace thanks to research by a team comprised of surgeons from Poland and scientists from England.
Published in this month’s issue of the journal Cell Transplantation, a team led by Prof. Geoff Raisman, chair of neural regeneration at University College London’s Institute of Neurology, has found a way to regenerate damaged or severed spinal cord tissue using the most unlikely of methods: harvesting nasal cells.
Olfactory ensheathing glia (OEG) are a type of protective cell that surround the nerve fibres that transmit sensory information from the nose to the brain. Because of the nature of their function, OEGs have a very short life-span; however, it’s due to the need to smell that OEGs are constantly replaced every six to eight weeks – unlike many nerve cells that take a much longer time to replicate.
What makes OEGs interesting and important to researchers trying to find ways to re-grow nerve cells is the fact that OEGs are able to promote the growth of immature nerve cells.
Thanks to OEGs, Darek Fidyka, a Polish man who was paralysed after being repeatedly stabbed in the back in 2010, is now able to walk with assistance from a support frame.
Raisman said of the success of the procedure, “[this is] more impressive than man walking on the moon.”
Researchers removed one of Fidyka’s olfactory bulbs – two structures found in the foremost part of the brain that are responsible for the sense of smell – and used the cells to grow cultures. The process took two weeks.
Once the culture cells were harvested, researchers injected the grown cultures into a portion of Fidyka’s spinal cord that was severed. Then, scientists took four thin strips of nerve tissue from Fidyka’s ankle, and placed them across an eight millimetre gap on the left side of his spinal cord.
Before his involvement with the study, Fidyka underwent a process of five hours of exercise, five days a week; this treatment produced no results. However, Fidkya continued this pattern of exercise at the Akson Neuro-Rehabilitation Centre in Wroclaw, Poland after he received the OEG injections.
Fidyka first noted signs of success three months after the initial procedure, when he noticed that his thigh muscles were gaining mass. After six months, Fidyka was able to take his first steps.
Now, two years later, Fidyka is able to walk outside of the rehabilitation centre with the help of a brace.
“When you can’t feel almost half of your body, you are helpless, but when it starts coming back, it’s like you were born again,” said Fidyka in an interview with the BBC.
The researchers involved with the treatment are trying their best to prevent patients from paying for the procedure.
“It would be my proudest boast if I could say that no patient had had to pay one penny for any of the information we have found,” explained Raisman to the BBC.
What seemed like science fiction only a few years ago is quickly becoming a reality. Though more research is required, the findings presented by Raisman and his team will profoundly change the way paralytic patients – and their doctors – are going to look at their futures.