Discovery: Medium to repair damaged nerve cells
Injuries of the spinal cord so for mean irreparable damages, that often come along with paralysis, because signals from and to the brain are no longer transmitted. Another problem is the leakage of the damaged cells; they release substances that destroy surrounding cells.
Borgens and Cho from the Center for Paralysis Research were looking for nontoxic alternatives to polyethylene glycol (PEG), which seals and repairs damaged nerve cells of the spinal cord. They expected some kinds of sugars to have this ability. Being a derivative of the polysaccharide chitin, they also analyzed chitosan.
In a first step they extracted the spinal cord of guinea pigs, then they compressed it partly and applied chitosan on the damaged parts. Afterwards fluorescent dye was added. This dye enters cells only through damaged cell walls and makes penetrated cells glow. During an illumination test the cells remained dark, which means, the chitosan had sealed the damaged cell walls, so the dye could not enter.
After these positive results Cho and Borgens tested if the cells still leak. But once again chitosan showed its potential. The results of the damaged and chitosan treated spinal cords were even better than the reference specimen that were not compressed and treated with chitosan.
If cells are damaged, usually the mitochondria inside the cells are hurt, too. Then they release harmful reactive oxygen species. Further experiments showed that chitosan even repaired the mitochondrial membrane.
In in vivo tests the first results were confirmed. Only 30 minutes after applying the chitosan onto the damaged cells, a transfer of electrical signals could be measured. Signals generated by stimulating the hind leg of the guinea pig arrived measurably in the brain.
To summarize, researchers can celebrate the following success thanks to chitosan:
- Cell membrane of nerve cells systematically can be restored.
- Damaged cells can be sealed and do not longer leak.
- The mitochondrial membrane can be repaired.
- Electrical signals again can be transmitted through the formerly injured cells.
The results are ground-breaking. They allow many new application opportunities to treat nerve defects. One possibility could be chitosan nano particles that deliver APIs into injured cells.
We are very curious about new ideas from the think tank directed by Dr. Richard Borgens.
You would like to carry out experiments with chitosan or develop new therapeutics? Please
Source: Inside JEB
chitosan, Regeneration, spinal cord, nerve cells
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