Severe Spinal Cord Injuries in Mice can be possibly cured with Therapy

A new injectable Therapy created by Northwestern University researchers uses “dancing molecules” to restore paralysis and heal tissue after severe spinal cord damage. Researchers gave paralyzed mice a single injection to the tissues surrounding their spinal cords in a recent study. The animals were able to walk again after only four weeks. The findings will be published in the journal Science on November 12th. The revolutionary Therapy significantly healed severely wounded spinal cords in five critical ways by sending bioactive signals to trigger cells to mend and regenerate.

The components biodegrade into nutrients for the cells within 12 weeks after the Therapy has completed its role and then entirely disappear from the body without causing any noticeable side effects. This is the first study in which researchers used chemical structural alterations to control the collective motion of molecules to improve the efficacy of a treatment. Our research is to develop a treatment that will prevent people from becoming paralyzed due to severe trauma or sickness.

As our body’s central nervous system, which includes the brain and spinal cord, has no considerable potential to repair itself after injury or illness, this has remained a big concern for scientists for decades. Nearly 300,000 persons in the United States have a spinal cord injury, according to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center. These patients’ lives might be pretty challenging. Only about 3% of persons who have suffered a total injury ever regain essential bodily functions.

And, following the first injury, almost 30% of patients are re-hospitalized at least once during the year, spending millions of dollars in average lifetime health care expenses per patient. Moreover, persons with spinal cord injuries have a lower life expectancy than those without them, which hasn’t changed much since the 1980s.