Scientists were successful in conducting tests on dogs which let them overcome paralysis after injecting nose cells in their spinal cord. Now, a Cambridge University team is looking for possible ways to treat human patients with the same technique said a report in BBC News.
Jasper, a 10-year-old dachshund, was able to walk again after his nose' cells were implanted in his injured spine. Researchers were successful in doing the transplant and Jasper is able to keep up with other dogs' pace.
"Before the treatment we used to have to wheel Jasper round on a trolley because his back legs were useless. Now, he whizzes around the house and garden and is able to keep up with the other dogs," May Hay, Jasper's caretaker told BBC news out of excitement. "It's wonderful."
Jasper was one of the 34 dogs to undergo the study conducted to cure the paralyzed hind legs. Out of 34 pet dogs, 23 underwent a cell transplant while the rest were injected with a neutral fluid. Dogs that received transplant showed a tremendous improvement as they were assessed by having them walk on a treadmill and many dogs were able to with the help of a harness says a report in BBC news.
"Our findings are extremely exciting because they show for the first time that transplanting these types of cell into a severely damaged spinal cord can bring about significant improvement," Professor Robin Franklin said in the same report, who is a regeneration biologist at the Wellcome Trust-MRC Stem Cell Institute and report co-author."We're confident that the technique might be able to restore at least a small amount of movement in human patients with spinal cord injuries but that's a long way from saying they might be able to regain all lost function."
Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) are known to regenerate on its own throughout the lifetime of a mammal which makes them unique. This is still not clear to the scientists how this has successfully cured the spinal injury to such an extent.
"It's very difficult to know what this means without the ability to go in and look at the spinal cord histology and see what these transplants managed to do," said Edward Hall, a professor at the University of Kentucky Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center in report published in abc news.
Professor Geoffrey Raisman, chair of Neural Regeneration at University College London, who discovered olfactory ensheathing cells in 1985, insists on more research to be done to get to level to treat humans.
"This is not a cure for spinal cord injury in humans - that could still be a long way off. But this is the most encouraging advance for some years and is a significant step on the road towards it," he told the BBC news.
