TEHRAN -- A group of Iranian researchers from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences have found a way to regenerate nerve tissues and spinal cord injury by extracting mouse neural stem cells and using ibrutinib drug.
“In this project, we studied the combined effect of stem cells of the nervous system and drug ibrutinib (targeted drug for cancer treatment) to regenerate nerve tissue and recovery of motor function in a mouse with spinal cord injury,” Somayyeh Torabi, a researcher of the project, told ANA.
“We used a 14-day-old mouse embryo’s stem cells and cultured them … After 6-7 days, the cells started multiplying, and after a month, we transplanted these cells into the spinal cord lesion models,” Torabi said.
The cells were used for adult mice in which they created a spinal cord lesion, she explained.
“We injected these cells in the area where the lesion was created. Then we monitored and observed the animals for a month. We tested their sensory, motor and balance performance. At the end of the month, we checked their tissue repair.
“We measured the size of the lesions and the behavior of the transplanted cells in different groups, because along with the cell transplant, we also used an anti-inflammatory drug of the immune system. We also investigated this issue to observe the behavior of the transplanted cells in the target tissue - which had received drugs or not -. Finally, we obtained an acceptable result of the survival and fate of the cells,” Torabi said.