People with spinal cord injuries suffer from many complications in addition to paralysis and numbness. Some of these problems are caused by a lack of the neurotransmitter GABA in the injured spinal cord. Now research in mice is showing that human embryonic stem cells differentiated into medial ganglionic eminence (MGE)-like cells, which produce GABA, may help alleviate two of the most severe side effects — chronic neuropathic pain and bladder dysfunction.
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The neural precursor cells were placed into the spinal cords of mice two weeks after injury had been induced, where they could differentiate into GABA-producing neuron subtypes and form synaptic connections.
“Rather than implanting these cells into the site of injury, at the mid-thoracic level, we injected them in the lumbosacral region, where the circuits are known to be overactive,” says Thomas Fandel, a research specialist at UCSF…“Six months later we could see broad dispersion of the cells in that area. They were integrated into the spinal cord.”
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By six months after transplant, animals exhibited significantly reduced pain sensitivities.
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