The potential role of Embryonic stem cells in the treatment of spinal cord injuries
The spinal cord is an organized and complex part of the CNS. The spinal cord is a collection of nerves that travel from the bottom of your brain down your back, there are 31 pairs of nerves that leave the spinal cord to your heart, lungs, bowel, bladder. For example signals from the spinal cord are what control our rate of breathing. Other spinal nerves travel from different parts of the body back to the spinal cord. These nerves bring back information to the brain from the different body parts, these include the sense of touch, pain, positioning and temperature. The spinal cord is very sensitive it does not have the ability to repair itself nor does it’s cells have the ability to regenerate. We know that the spinal cord is the main relay for signals between the brain and the body, hence injury to the spinal cord would deprive the individual from mobility and sensory input as well as autonomic nervous system control below the level of the lesion (1)
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Human embryonic stem (ES) cells capture the imagination because they are immortal and have an almost unlimited developmental potential. After many months of growth in culture dishes, these remarkable cells maintain the ability to form cells ranging from muscle to nerve to blood—potentially any cell type that makes up the body. The proliferative and developmental potential of human ES cells promises an essentially unlimited supply of specific cell types for basic research and for medical therapy such as treating spinal cord injuries A spinal cord injury is damage done to any part of the spinal cord or nerves at the end of the spinal canal (cauda equina), it often causes permanent changes in strength, sensation and other body functions below the site of the injury. Effects of this injury might be felt mentally, emotionally and socially
