BioCentury
ARTICLE | Clinical News

Interneuron strategy could lead to cell therapy for SCI

April 25, 2017 11:36 PM UTC

A team led by scientists at the Gladstone Institutes is the first to develop a cell culture strategy to generate V2a interneurons from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), which could be used as a cell therapy to treat spinal cord injury. The group published its findings on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

V2a spinal interneurons, which relay excitatory stimuli for the regulation of breathing and locomotion, project up and down the spinal cord to connect with motor neurons. In cases where the interneurons are lost after spinal cord injury, their replacements can be rerouted to create new pathways for signal transmission around the injury site...