Spinal Cord Injury

Research into spinal cord repair has made enormous progress in the recent years. Stem cell therapy may potentially help a seriously paralaysed person before unaided, regain sensation, improve bladder and bowel control or regain use of his or her limbs.

The neurons forming the spinal cord are highly vulnerable to damaged if vertebrae of the spinal column are subjected to a servere shock or impact. Unlike nerve fibres in other parts of the body, they do not have a natural ability to regrow if they are cut or damaged. Spinal cord neurons do not repair themselves with our own stem cells in the body.

The use of human umbilical cord blood (hUCB) is a rich source of nonembryonic or adult stem cells. The results suggest that cord blood stem cells are beneficial in reversing the effects of spinal cord injury, even when infused after injury. Human cord blood-derived stem cells have been observed in injured areas, but not in none injured areas of patients spinal cords. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that cord blood-derived stem cells migrate to and participate in the healing of neurological defects caused by traumatic assault.