PARALYSED MAN WALKS AGAIN AFTER CELL TRANSPLANTATION FROM HIS NOSE
In a pioneering therapy, doctors in Poland, in collaboration
with scientists in London, have performed cell transplantation of a paralysed
man who can now walk using cells from his nose.
The 38-year-old Bulgarian man,
Darek Fidyka, was paralysed from the waist down after being stabbed in 2010.
The transplant involves a
procedure of transplanting olfactory ensheathing cells, where the sense of
smell resides, into the patient`s spinal cord. The doctors removed one of his
olfactory bulbs and transplanted his own olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) and
olfactory nerve fibroblasts (ONFs) into the damaged area along with a nerve
"bridge" constructed between the two stumps of the damage spinal
column.
OECs are a type of cells that
reside in both the peripheral and central nervous system. Together with ONFs, they
make bundles of nerve fibers that run from the nasal mucosa to the olfactory
bulb where the sense of smell is located. The technique of bridging the
sectional spinal cord using autologous (derived from the patient) sural nerve
grafts has been used in animal studies for three decades, but never in
combination with OECs, commented the doctors.
The study is due to be published
in Cell Transplantation.
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