Scientists from the Kazan Federal University (KFU) Institute of Basic Medicine and Biology, in collaboration with neurosurgeons from the Republican Clinical Hospital, developed a method that stimulates post-traumatic recovery of the structure and functions of the spinal cord. This was reported to socialbites.ca by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.
The method is based on the use of extracellular vesicles – these are small intracellular or extracellular vesicles formed from the cell membrane. They are involved in various processes in the body. Vesicles were obtained from porcine mesenchymal stem cells, into which they were subsequently injected.
“Extracellular vesicles were obtained from mesenchymal stem cells with cytochalasin B using various mechanical impact and filtration protocols. Yana Mukhamedshina, a lead researcher in KFU’s OpenLab “Gene and Cellular Technologies” division, told socialbites.ca that a qualitative assessment of these vesicles was made, their size and fine structure determined using transmission electron microscopy.
To experimentally test the method’s effectiveness, the scientists simulated a dosed contusion injury of the spinal cord at the level of the 11th thoracic vertebra of a pig. Such an injury corresponds to the variant of damage encountered in clinical conditions, due to a vertebral fracture and displacement of its fragments into the spinal canal. The scientists also took into account that the patient usually does not immediately get on the operating table, so he has time to ensure that the spinal cord is compressed with fragments of the vertebrae and a hematoma.
The researchers gave the pig two injections of vesicles: the first one week after injury and the second three weeks later.
The results showed that the area of preserved tissue increased by 27% and the total area of pathological space formed after injury decreased by 29% in the direction caudally from the site of injury – this is the spinal cord that undergoes the greatest degenerative changes after exposure. The vesicle injected group of animals was compared with those injected with saline.
The results of the experiments show a partial improvement in motor activity in pigs with contusion spinal cord injury, which is an undoubted success.
Currently, pilot clinical trials are being conducted at the Republic Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Tatarstan to implement the method developed in KFU for the treatment of spinal cord injuries using the extracellular vesicles obtained. from mesenchymal stem cells.