Courtesy of: Dr
Nick Jeffery, Lecturer in Clinical Neurology, Dept. of Clinical Veterinary
Medicine, Cambridge
Cell
transplant surgery for severe spinal cord injury
Experiments
in rats have shown that transplanting glial cells from the olfactory lobe into
areas of severely damaged (including complete transections) thoracolumbar spinal
cord results in greatly improved locomotor capacity. Regrowth of previously
damaged axons across the lesion site occurs following transplantation and is
thought to mediate the improvement in function.
These
experiments suggest that olfactory glial cell transplantation into the damaged
spinal cord may be a feasible and efficacious future clinical therapy for human
and animal patients. Here at
Initially,
we selected thoracolumbar spinal cord injuries that were very unlikely to
recover with conventional treatment: a)
Acute
disc cases that did not show appreciable recovery of function by six weeks
post-injury; and, b) Fracture / luxation cases that had loss of deep pain
sensation. However, our early experience has confirmed that the procedure is
safe and so we are widening the selection criteria to include any
case with loss of deep pain sensation. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that
the outcome following this new approach will be as good as that obtained in
rats; the purpose in carrying out this study is to test how good it is. However
we feel that it is an important study, since a positive result after this
cellular transplantation therapy in a test group of dogs would have a dramatic
impact on the prospects of treating spinal cord injury in both dogs and human
patients.
Therefore
if you encounter any such cases please contact Dr Nick Jeffery at Dept Clinical
Veterinary Medicine, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ES – preferably by e-mail
– ndj1000@cam.ac.uk
or phone - 01223 339969, to discuss this novel treatment option.
A
new treatment for severe spinal cord injury
At
Cambridge Veterinary School we are investigating cell transplantation (moving
cells from one region of the body to another) as a means to improve the outcome
following severe spinal injuries in dogs.
Although
dogs with any type of spinal injury are potential candidates for this new
treatment, it will not be necessary for the majority of cases, since most will
recover satisfactorily with currently routine medicine or surgery. The cases we
are investigating are those that have had especially severe injuries – whether
recently or in the past - and would not be expected to recover, or who have
already failed to recover, with conventional therapy.
The
procedure is based on methods, carried out elsewhere, that produced remarkable
improvement in the ability of rats to walk after spinal cord injury. Cells are
collected from inside the skull (at the back of the nose) and, after increasing
the cell numbers and purifying them, placed into the damaged region of the
spinal cord. The removal of cells from inside the skull can be accomplished
without post-operative problems and the spinal operation is routine. At the Vet
School there is a great deal of expertise in anaesthetics, pain relief and
nursing care of spinally-injured dogs so we can ensure that each dog in this
study receives top quality medical care and post-operative distress and
suffering is avoided.
The
potential of this procedure is enormous, although we cannot guarantee that the
outcome following this new type of surgery will be as good as that obtained in
rats; the purpose in carrying out this study is to test how good it is. We feel
that it is an important study, since a positive result after this cellular
transplantation therapy in a test group of dogs would have a dramatic impact on
treatment of spinal cord injury in both dogs and human patients. Because we have
received funding from a spinal cord injury charity and the Kennel Club the
procedure can be offered at a minimal cost.
Dr
Nick Jeffery, Lecturer in Clinical Neurology, Dept Clinical Veterinary Medicine,
Cambridge CB3 0ES
e-mail:
ndj1000@cam.ac.uk
Phone:
01223 339969
Fax: 01223 337017