Researchers capture breakthrough data on cervical spine injuries

DURHAM, N.H. – A high school football player’s broken neck – from which he’s recovered – has yielded breakthrough biomechanical data on cervical spine injuries that could ultimately affect safety and equipment standards for athletes. University of New Hampshire associate professor of kinesiology Erik Swartz collaborated on the study, which appears in a letter in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.

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Rutgers offers hope in new treatment for spinal cord injuries

Rutgers researchers have developed an innovative new treatment that could help minimize nerve damage in spinal cord injuries, promote tissue healing and minimize pain.

After a spinal cord injury there is an increased production of a protein (RhoA) that blocks regeneration of nerve cells that carry signals along the spinal cord and prevents the injured tissue from healing.

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Spinal cord processes information just like areas of the brain

Patrick Stroman’s work mapping the function and information processing of the spinal cord could improve treatment for spinal cord injuries.

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Researchers focus on human cells for spinal cord injury repair

Derived from stem cells — restore movement in animal models

For the first time, scientists discovered that a specific type of human cell, generated from stem cells and transplanted into spinal cord injured rats, provide tremendous benefit, not only repairing damage to the nervous system but helping the animals regain locomotor function as well.

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First-of-its-kind study shows benefits of electrical stimulation therapy for people paralyzed by spinal cord injury

Findings have implications for quality of life and independence

Feb. 17, 2011– A new treatment approach which uses tiny bursts of electricity to reawaken paralyzed muscles “significantly” reduced disability and improved grasping in people with incomplete spinal cord injuries, beyond the effects of standard therapy, newly published research shows.

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Stem cell advance a step forward for treatment of brain diseases

Scientists have created a way to isolate neural stem cells – cells that give rise to all the cell types of the brain – from human brain tissue with unprecedented precision, an important step toward developing new treatments for conditions of the nervous system, like Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases and spinal cord injury.

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New spinal implant will help people with paraplegia to exercise paralyzed limbs

Engineers have developed a new type of microchip muscle stimulator implant that will enable people with paraplegia to exercise their paralysed leg muscles.

It is the first time that researchers have developed a device of this kind that is small enough to be implanted into the spinal canal and incorporates the electrodes and muscle stimulator in one unit. The implant is the size of a child’s fingernail.

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Origin of cells associated with nerve repair discovered

Findings could one day lead to improved treatment of spinal cord injuries

Scientists have discovered the origin of a unique type of cell known for its ability to support regeneration in the central nervous system. Their findings, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS), raise the possibility of obtaining a more reliable source of these cells for use in cell transplantation therapy for spinal cord injuries.

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Study seeks new way to enhance neuron repair in spinal cord injury

COLUMBUS, Ohio – If researchers could determine how to send signals to cells responding to a spinal cord injury, they might be able to stop one type of cell from doing additional damage at the injury site and instead, coax it into helping nerve cells grow.

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Research uncovers extensive natural recovery after spinal cord injury

A study led by researchers in the Department of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine shows unexpected and extensive natural recovery after spinal cord injury in primates. The findings, to be published November 14 in the advance online edition of Nature Neuroscience, may one day lead to the development of new treatments for patients with spinal cord injuries.

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