Nose Cells to Cure Spinal Injuries?

dptalia writes "The Guardian has an article on how nose cells may cure spinal injuries. This technique has worked with rats, restoring feeling and movement to limbs damaged by severed nerves. The initial trial will be on people who have lost control of an arm due to the nerves being pulled from the spinal cord." From the article: "If successful, with refinement and research the procedure could be tried on people in a wheelchair. It also has the potential to heal other nerve injuries, such as those caused by stroke, blindness and deafness."

Comments

Blindness and Deafness lead to Nerve Injuries!

[Fractl]

"It also has the potential to heal other nerve injuries, such as those caused by stroke, blindness and deafness." hmmm...I know this is wrong. But how should one rewrite this sentence? "It also has the potential to heal other nerve injuries, such as those caused by stroke: blindness and deafness." "It also has the potential to heal other nerve injuries (such as those caused by stroke), blindness and deafness." "It also has the potential to heal blindness, deafness, and other nerve injuries (such as those caused by stroke)."

Re:CNS injuries

[the_humeister]

That is not entirely correct. This is basic pathology: injury attracts inflammatory cells including neutrophils and eventually macrophages, which clean up the debris. I see this all the time in the CNS on autopsied patients where cerebral infarcts contain neutrophils, macrophages, or cystic areas with gliosis depending on how old the infarct is.

Re:Huh?

[jim_v2000]

It's poorly worded...

"It also has the potential to heal other nerve injuries, such as those caused by stroke, blindness and deafness."

meaning:

Nerve Injuries, such as:
*Those caused by stroke
*Blindness
*Deafness

Re:CNS injuries

[the_humeister]

Any neuropathology, or even surgical pathology text book will detail this. Here's an excerpt from the Diagnostic Surgical Pathology by Sternberg: "Phagocytic cells may be seen in any condition that involves parenchymal necrosis (Fig. 6B). The origin of any particular phagocytic cell cannot be determined since the phagocytic population consists of activated local microglia and blood monocytes entering the brain parenchyma in response to damage. Its fate may be to remain at the injury or migrate elsewhere 13. Thus, the inclusive term brain macrophages seems to be the most appropriate." Although you may still be correct since the above process usually involves a break in the vasculature no matter how minute. Other processes, such as spongiform encephalopathy, don't have inflammatory cells as one of the findings.

More complete version.

[DrYak]

What your teachers meant, was that white blood cells don't *normally* cross the brain/blood barrier and enter the CNS.
- That's the way herpes and zona hides : the virus stays dormant in neurons.
but
When there's an infection, like an encephalitis, some white blood cells (like lymphoncytes), may cross the barrier to come and clean up the disease.
In case of CNS damage, like a stroke, white blood cells do cross the brain barrier to come and try to clean up the mess.

The remaining mess is only part of the problem.
Another part, which isn't adressed by this nose-method (and that's why they say that it won't work with old and heavy spinal damages) is the scar : fibroblast come and refill the damaged hole with non-nervouse "useless" fibrotic material.
Another part of the problem is the inhibition of regrowth :
In PNS the supporting cells (schwan) try to help and encourage regrowth by helping cleaning the path and lining and guiding.
In CNS the glial cells try to close and isolate the damaged region (trying to re-create the broken barrier ?).

That's why they are first trying to solve small-scale problems like thorn nerve roots (more a "inhibition of regrowth" problem).
There are several way to try to fix this :

- One way is to try to stop the inhibition. Some researcher showed in a conference that using a few drugs (include eostrogen as far as I remember) they stoped this inhibition and encouraged the regrowth. Mice with (surgical and therefor "clean" scar-less) spinal section were able to walk again.

This is the "find a drug and patent it" method that the authors of this article are criticizing, but which is favored by private companies (because of the money and possible return on investments).

This reaserchers method is different : in the nose (which like the eye is CNS system, despite the fact we call it olphactive and optical "nerves") the nerves seem to be able to regrow (no inhibition to regrowth, despite being in the CNS). And he has (successfuly tried) to transplant such cell to other sites of injury (small scale, no scar involved) and obtain same uninhibited regrowth.
(this research is only likely to be seen in an university).

Note:
I have a master in medecine so I can give you these extra infromation. But on the other hand, that's not my specialty, and is only simplified from what i remember. Is there any neurologist on slashdot who could give a better explanation ?