Stem Cell Updates

Here's some information I've read recently:

First, bad/sad/mad news: stem cell con men.


Don't worry, I'd never buy stem cells from Ecuador. Peru maybe, but not Ecuador. I've been to Ecuador and I don't even want their bologna sandwiches (explosively bad experience...don't ask), let alone their stem cells.

Some good news: scientists in Germany have found out how to see inside a living spinal cord, a new ability they've called a 'leap forward in regeneration research'. Before, the cord was opaque and you could only study the effects of a treatment by removing it; now, using a special solvent and a florescence method called ultramicroscopy, they can create 3-D images of individual regenerating axons. Very cool!

Another update is on an enzyme being developed called chondroitinase aka ch'ase. This link describes ch'ase and also provides myriad examples of its beneficial effects in animal trials. The exciting thing for me is its primary target is chronic injuries, a unique thing in SCI treatments.

Here's another study that seeks to combine ch'ase with 2 other treatment ideas to make sort of a spinal cord therapy milkshake, that can first degrade the scar tiisue around the injury site and then build the nueral connections back up. Beware: large scientific words!

More long words in this one, but also a picture, so you're welcome! The key to this study seems to be the simultaneous deletion of two distinct enzymes, as that results in near double the axon regeneration of focusing on the enzymes separately. Apparently the researchers are getting baller results....so hurry up bro!