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Ability of stem cells to restore motor function of brain leaves Stanford researchers stunned

Stanford researchers were “stunned” by the extent to which stem cells restored motor function in some of the patients. This observation is creating a significant buzz in the neuroscience community because the results are contradictory to the core belief that brain damage is permanent and irreversible.

The one-time therapy involved surgeons drilling a hole into the study participants’ skulls and injecting stem cells in several locations around the area damaged by the stroke. The patients were conscious the whole time and went home the same day. These stem cells were harvested from the bone marrow of adult donors. The research involved only 18 patients and was designed to look at the safety of this procedure and not its efficacy.

The procedure although sounds dramatic, it is considered relatively simple. The patients suffered minimal adverse effects such as temporary headaches, nausea and vomiting. One patient experienced some fluid build up from the procedure that had to be drained out but later, recovered fully from the issue.

Gary Steinberg, the study’s lead author and chair of neurosurgery at Stanford, said “Their recovery was not just a minimal recovery like

someone who couldn’t move a thumb now being able to wiggle it. It was much more meaningful. One 71-year-old wheelchair-bound patient was walking again.”

He also recounted the progress of a much younger patient, age 39, who was two years post-stroke and had had such problems walking and speaking that she “did not want to get married to her boyfriend.” “She was embarrassed about walking down the aisle,” he explained. But after treatment, Steinberg said, “She’s now walking much better and talking much better and she’s married and pregnant.”

Steinberg said that the study does not support the idea that the injected stem cells become neurons, as has been previously thought. Instead, it suggests that they seem to trigger some kind of biochemical process that enhances the brain’s ability to repair itself.

“A theory is that they turn the adult brain into the neonatal brain that recovers well,” he explained.

Nicholas Boulis, a neurosurgeon and researcher at Emory University, said the study appears to support the idea that there may be latent pathways in the brain that can be reactivated — a theory that has been “working its way to the surface” over the past few years.

There are close to 7 million so-called chronic stroke patients in the United States who are living with the aftermath of the damage to their brains and bodies from stroke. While there are several treatments that can be administered within hours or days of an incident in order to improve a patient’s outcome, and physical therapy that can take place for a few months after that, there is very little doctors can do after that time.

Stem cells have been among the most promising new avenues of research. Huge improvements have been shown in animal models but results of the first human tests are just starting to come in. Earlier this month researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine reported that a year-long study of 48 patients found that infusing patients with stroke with stem cells through their carotid artery appeared to be safe.

The Stanford researchers have launched a larger randomized, double-blinded multicenter trial using the same procedure and have already begun to enroll patients. They are aiming for 156 total and say they hope to have results in as soon as two years.

 

Peace-lover, creative, smart and intelligent. Prapti is a foodie, music buff and a travelholic. After leaving a top-notch full time corporate job, she now works as an Online Editor for Biotecnika. Keen on making a mark in the scientific publishing industry, she strives to find a work-life balance. Follow her for more updates!