Technology and innovation for the treatment of spinal cord injuries

materials science, regenerative medicine and nanotechnology They have opened a promising line of research to try to find effective solutions for the rehabilitation of spinal cord injuries, and they will do this in the framework of a pioneering project in the world in which six European countries will be involved.

“Piezo4Spine” is the name of the European initiative which starts today and which has been awarded 3.5 million euros within the Pathfinder call of the EU and which will be coordinated by Spanish researcher Concepción Serrano, from the Institute of Material Sciences in Madrid (ICMM) of the High Council for Scientific Research.

whatWhat are the chances that this research will translate into clinical practice in the future? “a lots of”; precautions? “everything”, the researcher told EFE, who had the effect of sending a message of prudence in relation to expectations derived from scientific progress, and specified that any research requires many years until all phases of tests and trials are completed. completed.

“We will try to develop a new therapy that will combine many elements to try to cure the spinal cord injury,” the scientist asserted and reminded that it is an injury that still has no effective treatment and that causes a complete or partial loss of motor control and sensation.

The brain and spinal cord do not have the same regenerative capacity as other tissues “and we don’t know why”, and researchers will explore these pathways over the next four years to try to find a therapy that can be effective, and through “tissue engineering” to design a replacement for the injured spinal cord that has the information needed to begin recovery.

Concepción Serrano emphasized the potential of this new line of research and the possibility of opening the door to effective therapies, but also the importance of “caution” and warned that any new medical device or medicine that jumps from the laboratory to the clinic requires many years of work and considerable financial resources.

The working hypothesis on which this project is based is centered on the concept “mechanotransduction” –the ability of cells and tissues to sense and respond to mechanical stimuli.

In the same way that cells are sensitive to chemical or biological stimuli, they are also sensitive to mechanical stimuli, noted Concepción Serrano and explained that the goal of this project will be the research of these mechanical processes and their connection with the functioning of neural tissue.

This is pioneering and new science since in 2010 these mechanoreceptors were discovered in cells, a discovery that a Lebanese scientist based in United States Arden Patapoutian Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology.

“Our goal is to try to better understand spinal cord injuries and with this knowledge to provide a therapeutic solution for spinal cord injuries,” explained the Spanish researcher, who also specified that the scientists set two specific goals that the scientific community still did not have. given enough importance.

These targets are mechanoreceptors called “Piezo” and “fibroblasts” that participate in the response to neural damage.

In addition to studying these mechanoreceptors and their involvement in neural damage over the next few years, researchers have proposed another therapeutic pillar: the development of genetic engineering tools capable of modulating the “fibroblasts” involved in healing processes.

“Fibroblasts” are one of the types of cells that respond most quickly to the control and healing of a damaged area of ​​the body, but this activation still interferes with the natural regeneration of damaged neural tissue; in this case, from the spinal cord.

For this reason, and as CSIC explains, one of the main goals of the international project “Piezo4Spine” will be to work on blocking these fibroblasts, which favors the regenerative processes of the body itself.

The researcher is convinced that, if successful, the project will provide access to new knowledge and technologies that could be useful not only for neural regeneration, but also for other types of pathologies.

They participate in the project, except for Institute of Material Sciences in Madrid, National Hospital for Paraplegics (Spain); Italian Institute of Technology (Italy); University of Coimbra (Portugal); Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium); Black Drop Biodrucker GmbH (Germany); and the company ACIB GmbH (Austria).

The project will be coordinated by the High Council for Scientific Research, which maintains an “affiliate unit” with the Toledo Hospital for Paraplegics that will provide a clinical perspective and support collaboration between the two centers.