Browsing by Subject "Spinal cord injury"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Cell therapy and delivery strategies for spinal cord injury
    (Universidad de Murcia, Departamento de Biologia Celular e Histiologia, 2021) Ramalho, Bruna dos S.; de Almeida, Fernanda M.; Martinez, Ana M.B.
    Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a complex neuropathological condition that represents a major challenge for clinicians and scientists due to patient's functional dysfunction and paralysis. Several treatments have been proposed including biological factors, drugs and cells administered in various ways. Stem cells arise as good candidates to treat SCI since they are known to secrete neurotrophic factors, improving neuroregeneration, but also due to their role in modulating the inflammatory process, favoring a pro-regenerative status. There are several types of cells that have been tested to treat SCI in experimental and clinical studies, but we still face many unanswered questions; one of them is the type of cells that can offer the best benefits and, also the ideal dose and administration routes. This review aimed to summarize recent research on cell treatment, focusing on current delivery strategies for SCI therapy and their effects in tissue repair and regeneration.
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    New serum-derived albumin scaffold seeded with adipose-derived stem cells and olfactory ensheathing cells used to treat spinal cord injured rats
    (F. Hernández y Juan F. Madrid. Universidad de Murcia. Departamento de Biología Celular e Histología, 2013) Ferrero Gutiérrez, Amaia; Menéndez Menéndez, Yolanda; Álvarez Viejo, Maria; Meana, Álvaro; Otero, Jesús
    Recent advances in spinal cord injury (SCI) research and cell culture techniques and biomaterials predict promising new treatments for patients with SCI or other nerve injuries. Biomaterial scaffolds form a substrate within which cells are instructed to form a tissue in a controlled manner. This study was designed to assess axon regeneration and locomotor recovery in rats with spinal cord injury treated with a novel serumderived albumin scaffold seeded with adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs) and olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs). OECs are considered promising candidates for the treatment of SCI, and ADSCs have the ability to differentiate into neural lineages. In vitro experiments revealed that ADSCs and OECs adhered to the scaffold, remained viable and expressed specific markers of their cell types when cultured in the scaffold. Rats treated with scaffold plus cells showed locomotor skills at several time points from 45 days post-injury that were improved over those recorded in control injured, untreated animals. Astrocytic scars and tissue regeneration, identified using histological and immunohistochemical techniques, revealed that although the scaffold itself appeared to play a significant role in reducing glial scar formation and filling of the lesion cavity with cells, the presence of ADSCs and OECs in the scaffold led to the appearance of cells expressing markers of neurons and axons at the injury site. Our findings point to the clinical feasibility of an albumin scaffold seeded with ADSCs and OECs as a treatment candidate for use in spinal cord injury repair studies.
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    Occult thoracic disco‑ligamentous Chance fracture in computed tomography: a case report
    (Springer, 2020-01-23) García Pérez, Daniel; Panero, Irene; Lagares, Alfonso; Alén, José A.; Paredes, Igor; Farmacología
    We report on a 46-year-old woman who was involved in a road traffic accident. Neurological examination demonstrated paraplegia, while initial CT showed bilateral pneumothorax and hemothorax, rib fractures, a C2 vertebral body fracture with C2–C3 dislocation and active arterial bleeding at the sacral level. Given the fact that her neurological status did not particularly correspond with what we observed on CT scan, MRI was obtained due to the suspicion that a much more severe occult injury could be present. MRI showed a complete rupture of the posterior ligamentous complex along with the intervertebral disk and the posterior longitudinal ligament at T8–T9 level. The patient underwent minimally invasive posterior fixation with pedicle screws. Chance fractures of the thoracic spine are uncommon. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a pure soft-tissue Chance fracture located in the thoracic spine. Given that the initial CT showed no fracture evidence or vertebral malalignment, a high index of suspicion, based on the mechanism of injury, clinical examination and/or concomitant lesions, is necessary to identify such extremely unstable injury. Early recognition is crucial for appropriate therapy and to minimize the extent of neurological deficit.
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    Regulation of inflammatory cytokines for spinal cord injury recovery
    (Universidad de Murcia, Departamento de Biologia Celular e Histiologia, 2021) Lin, Sen; Xu, Chang; Lin, Jiaquan; Hu, Hengshuo; Zhang, Chuanjie; Mei, Xifan
    Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most destructive traumatic diseases in human beings. The balance of inflammation in the microenvironment is crucial to the repair process of spinal cord injury. Inflammatory cytokines are direct mediators of local lesion inflammation and affect the prognosis of spinal cord injury to varying degrees. In spinal cord injury models, some inflammatory cytokines are beneficial for spinal cord repair, while others are harmful. A large number of animal studies have shown that local targeted administration can effectively regulate the secretion and delivery of inflammatory cytokines and promote the repair of spinal cord injury. In addition, many clinical studies have shown that drugs can promote the repair of spinal cord injury by regulating the content of inflammatory cytokines. However, topical administration affects only a small portion of inflammatory cytokines. In addition, different individuals have different inflammatory cytokine profiles during spinal cord injury. Therefore, future research should aim to develop a personalized local delivery therapeutic cocktail strategy to effectively and accurately regulate inflammation and obtain substantial functional recovery from spinal cord injury
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    Upregulated miR-125b mitigates inflammation, astrocyte activation, and dysfunction of spinal cord injury by inactivating the MAPK pathway
    (Universidad de Murcia, Departamento de Biologia Celular e Histiologia, 2024) Yue, Xianhu; Gu, Mingyong; Jia, Tanghong
    Background. Since the abnormal expression of miR-125b in spinal cord injury (SCI) and the regulatory effect of miR-125b on the MAPK pathway have been expounded, we attempt to investigate whether miR-125b exerts a regulatory effect on SCI by modulating the MAPK pathway. Method. A SCI rat model was established. The rats were treated with miR-125b antagomir or agomir, and their motor function affected by miR-125b was further detected by Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) scoring. The histopathological changes and neuronal loss in the spinal cord were evaluated using hematoxylin-eosin and Nissl staining. Microglia-conditioned medium (MCM) was prepared and further used to treat the astrocytes, the activation of which was evaluated via immunofluorescence staining. The expressions of miR-125b, inflammation-related factors (IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-10), and MAPK pathway-related proteins (p38, ERK1/2, and JNK1/2 as well as their phosphorylated (p) forms) in the spinal cord, serum, and MCM-treated astrocytes of rats were determined by reversetranscription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RTqPCR), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and Western blot. Result. MiR-125b was lowly expressed in SCImodeled rats. MiR-125b downregulation aggravated the impaired motor function, the disorder within the tissue, astrocyte activation, and neuron loss in the spinal cord tissues of SCI-modeled rats, while miR-125b upregulation did oppositely. MiR-125b downregulation enhanced the levels of IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, p38, p-p38, p-ERK1/2, and p-JNK1/2, whilst reducing that of IL-10. Contrarily, miR-125b upregulation exerted the opposite effects in SCI-modeled rats and MCM-treated astrocytes. Conclusion. Up-regulation of miR-125b mitigates inflammation, astrocyte activation, and dysfunction in SCI by inactivating the MAPK pathway.