Researchers have discovered a way to regenerate nerves in mice that have been damaged by spinal cord injuries, restoring their bladder function, Medical Daily reported. When paralysis occurs, the bladder is one of the organs most affected. Bladder control is maintained through signaling that occurs between the brain and the spinal cord. But after a spinal injury, that messaging is disrupted, often putting patients at a greater risk for urinary tract infections and kidney stones. Previous research has been unsuccessful at achieving any significant nerve regeneration in mice with spinal injuries. However, in the study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers successfully achieved nerve regrowth by adding a combination of a previously inhibited enzyme, chonrdoitinase, and a fibroblast growth factor (FGF) to the site of the injury. After adding a graft to the site, the nerves in the spinal cord grew back by up to 12 millimeters, Medical Daily reported. Though the mice were not able to walk, they did experience a restoration of bladder function. Mice were 40 percent more capable of emptying their bladders completely and were able to willfully control their bladders. The treated mice could also hold nearly three times the volume in their bladders … Continue reading →

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NVIV), a developer of groundbreaking technologies for the treatment of spinal cord injuries (SCI) and other neurotrauma conditions, today announced that CEO Frank Reynolds is scheduled to appear live in New York City on Fox News Channels Tech Take on Thursday, June 27th. Tech Take is hosted by anchor Adam Housley and airs on Thursdays at 1:00pm ET. InVivo Therapeutics has pioneered a treatment that uses a biocompatible polymer-based scaffold to provide structural support to a damaged spinal cord in order to spare tissue from scarring while improving recovery and prognosis after traumatic SCI. Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted two approvals to the Company, the first for Humanitarian Use Device (HUD) designation, which the Company believes will expedite the products path to market, and the second to approve the Company to begin a first-in-man clinical trial of the technology. On the show, Reynolds will discuss the product and the upcoming pilot study, as well as the platform the Company has built for developing new options for a wide range of conditions. Adam Housley joined Fox News Channel in 2001 as a Los Angeles-based correspondent. Recently, Housley covered the Japanese … Continue reading →

Newswise For the first time, researchers have restored significant bladder function through nerve regeneration in rats with the most severe spinal cord injuries (SCI). The breakthrough paired a traditional nerve bridge graft with a novel combination of scar degrading and growth factor treatments to grow new nerve cells from the thoracic level to the lower spinal cord region. Details of the discovery appear in the June 26 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. Neuroscientists from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Cleveland Clinic built a regeneration bridge across a lesion in animals with complete gap transections of their spinal cords. Although the animals did not regain the ability to walk, the procedure did allow them to recover a strong level of bladder control. Jerry Silver, PhD, professor of neurosciences at the School of Medicine, and Yu-Shang Lee, PhD, assistant staff scientist in the Lerner Research Institute of Cleveland Clinic, created the bridge using a scaffold of multiple segments of the animals own peripheral nerves. Key to the regeneration was surrounding the graft and both spinal cord stumps with a stimulating growth factor and an enzyme to dissolve scar tissue, which inhibits the nerve fibers from crossing over the … Continue reading →

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience Also Included In: Urology / Nephrology;Bio-terrorism / Terrorism Article Date: 26 Jun 2013 - 3:00 PDT Current ratings for: Nerve Cells Regrown In Rats With Spinal Cord Injury 3.6 (5 votes) 5 (1 votes) Yu-Shang Lee, of the Cleveland Clinic, and Jerry Silver, of Case Western Reserve Medical School, both in Cleveland, Ohio, and others, write about their work in a new study due to be published in Wednesday's online issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. In a statement, Lee says: "This is the first time that significant bladder function has been restored via nerve regeneration after a devastating cord injury." "Although animals did not regain the ability to walk, they did recover a remarkable measure of urinary control," says Silver. Being able to urinate again would bring a huge improvement to the quality of life for people with severe spinal cord injuries. Many patients rate it as one of the most important functions to regain following injury. Paralyzed rats' bladders leak urine when they are full, but this doesn't happen in paralyzed humans: instead, the urine backs up into the kidneys. Without a catheter this would lead to kidney failure … Continue reading →

June 25, 2013 Using a novel technique to promote the regeneration of nerve cells across the site of severe spinal cord injury, researchers have restored bladder function in paralyzed adult rats, according to a study in the June 26 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings may guide future efforts to restore other functions lost after spinal cord injury. It also raises hope that similar strategies could one day be used to restore bladder function in people with severe spinal cord injuries. For decades, scientists have experimented with using nerve grafts as a way of bridging the spinal cord injury site in an attempt to recover lost function following spinal cord injury. However, coaxing these cells to grow and form connections capable of relaying nerve signals has been elusive. In the current study, Yu-Shang Lee, PhD, of the Cleveland Clinic, together with Jerry Silver, PhD, of Case Western Reserve Medical School, and others, used a chemical that promotes cell growth along with a scar-busting enzyme to create a more hospitable environment for the nerve graft at the injury site. "Although animals did not regain the ability to walk, they did recover a remarkable measure of urinary control," Silver explained. … Continue reading →