A group of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have published details of new research that shows how new spinal discs can be grown from a patient’s own stem cells. The findings may allow doctor to replace degenerated spinal discs in patients with spinal injuries and degenerative diseases.
Spinal discs cushion the bones in the vertebrae and prevent them rubbing into one another. They also provide the back with the support it requires to perform every day movements.
Unfortunately, spinal discs can wear out over time. They can also deteriorate prematurely as result of disease or injury. When spinal discs degenerate, they allow the bones of the vertebrae to rub together and pinch the nerves in the spine — causing back pain.
The research team has successfully grown spinal discs in a laboratory using stem cells and has inserted the discs into test subjects. They used goats in their most recent trial, inserting them into the necks of the animals.
After two months, scans showed that the transplanted discs were functioning as well as the goat’s original discs. The fabricated discs were left in place and became a part of the animals’ tissue.
The research team told reporters that this new breakthrough is a major step forward. While they had previously tested the procedure on rodents, goats are much closer to humans in terms of their physiology.
Co-author author Dr. Harvey Smith, MD explained: “I think it’s really exciting that we have come this far, from the rat tail all the way up to human-sized implants,” he continued “Using a true tissue-engineered motion-preserving replacement device is not something we have yet done in orthopaedics. I think it would be a paradigm shift for how we really treat these spinal diseases and how we approach motion sparing reconstruction of joints.”
The next step is to perform trials on human test subjects. If successful, this procedure could help millions of people around the globe.
Source: New Spinal Discs Grown from Stem Cells
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