Using a novel scaffold to repair spinal cord injury

Dr. Ning Yuan, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, China and his colleagues, developed a novel neural stem cell scaffold that has two layers: the inner loose layer and the outer compact layer.

The loose layer was infiltrated with a large amount of neural stem cells before it was transplanted in vivo. Thus a plenty of neural stem cells can be provided at the target spinal cord site. The loose layer was adhered to the injured side and the compact layer was placed against the lateral side. The compact layer has very small holes, so it can prevent ingrowth of adjacent scar tissue. It can also prevent the loss of inner neural stem cells and the neural growth factors secreted by the differentiated neural stem cells. Thus a good microenvironment forms to help spinal cord injury repair. Yuan Ning and colleagues found that transplantation of neural stem cells in a double-layer collagen membrane with unequal pore sizes is an effective therapeutic strategy to repair an injured spinal cord in rats.

Related results were published in Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 10, 2014).

More information:
Yuan N, Tian W, Sun L, Yuan RY, Tao JF, Chen DF. Neural stem cell transplantation in a double-layer collagen membrane with unequal pore sizes for spinal cord injury repair. Neural Regen Res. 2014;9(10):1014-1019.

Provided by Neural Regeneration Research