“New findings could help speed recovery, alleviate pain associated with spinal cord injury,” according to the Society for Neuroscience. Their findings were revealed at Neuroscience 2012, their annual meeting.
The Society for Neuroscience is a nonprofit membership organization of scientists and physicians that study the brain and nervous system. The meeting was held in New Orleans, Louisiana earlier this month.
To understand their findings, it may help to know what neuroscience means. Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system to advance the understanding of human thought, emotion and behavior. It may also be helpful to look at the role that the spinal cord plays in the body. The spinal cord is a thick bundle of nerve tissue that is responsible for transmission of electrical signals sent to and from the brain.
A SCI is any injury to the spinal cord caused by trauma which may range from car crashes to violent acts. No one expects a SCI, but research from the Shepherd Center, a nonprofit hospital based in Atlanta, GA, shows that each year an estimated 12,000 people sustain new SCI – that’s 30 new injuries a day.
“Spinal cord damage is debilitating and life-altering, limiting or preventing movement and feeling for millions worldwide, and leading to chronic health conditions and pain,” an Oct. 15 release from the Society for Neuroscience states. “The initial injury is usually compounded by a wave of immune activity that can extend the initial nervous system damage, and complications of SCI may include pain and pressure sores that compromise the quality of life.”
The new studies suggest innovative ways to ease complications of SCI and to hasten recovery:
• Nervous system tracts that are left intact but non-functioning following SCI appear to be reactivated through deep brain stimulation, speeding recovery of walking in a rodent model (Brian Noga, PhD, abstract 678.12).
• Painful and sometime life-threatening pressure sores due to immobilizing nervous system injuries may be prevented by underwear wired to deliver tiny electrical currents that contract the paralyzed buttocks muscles, mimicking the natural fidgeting of able-bodied people (Sean Dukelow, MD, PhD, abstract 475.09).
• Carbon monoxide’s anti-inflammatory effects appear to accelerate healing in rats with spinal cord injury, possibly by altering the balance of immune cells and limiting the damage caused by molecules called free radicals (Yang Teng, MD, PhD, abstract 450.11).
• Social contact appears to lessen the pain that follows peripheral nerve injury. A new mouse study correlates the healing social behavior with biochemicals in the brain and spinal cord (Adam Hinzey, abstract 786.04).
“While the damage of SCI can appear to be immediate and dramatic, the biological events that lead to extensive nerve and tissue damage are complex, and injuries evolve over time,” said press conference moderator Jacqueline Bresnahan, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco, an expert on nervous system trauma caused by SCI. “Today researchers are finding ways to intervene in the cascade of molecular changes that follow SCI. From understanding immune cell responses to the healing power of social contact, researchers are finding new ways to treat and rehabilitate patients.”
National Institutes of Health, as well as private and philanthropic organizations, supported this research.
The average person living with SCI may not want to get their hopes up too soon, but the history of science is marked by a long chain of advances that once seemed improbable if not impossible.
The Society for Neuroscience is a nonprofit membership organization of scientists and physicians that study the brain and nervous system. The meeting was held in New Orleans, Louisiana earlier this month.
To understand their findings, it may help to know what neuroscience means. Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system to advance the understanding of human thought, emotion and behavior. It may also be helpful to look at the role that the spinal cord plays in the body. The spinal cord is a thick bundle of nerve tissue that is responsible for transmission of electrical signals sent to and from the brain.
A SCI is any injury to the spinal cord caused by trauma which may range from car crashes to violent acts. No one expects a SCI, but research from the Shepherd Center, a nonprofit hospital based in Atlanta, GA, shows that each year an estimated 12,000 people sustain new SCI – that’s 30 new injuries a day.
“Spinal cord damage is debilitating and life-altering, limiting or preventing movement and feeling for millions worldwide, and leading to chronic health conditions and pain,” an Oct. 15 release from the Society for Neuroscience states. “The initial injury is usually compounded by a wave of immune activity that can extend the initial nervous system damage, and complications of SCI may include pain and pressure sores that compromise the quality of life.”
The new studies suggest innovative ways to ease complications of SCI and to hasten recovery:
• Nervous system tracts that are left intact but non-functioning following SCI appear to be reactivated through deep brain stimulation, speeding recovery of walking in a rodent model (Brian Noga, PhD, abstract 678.12).
• Painful and sometime life-threatening pressure sores due to immobilizing nervous system injuries may be prevented by underwear wired to deliver tiny electrical currents that contract the paralyzed buttocks muscles, mimicking the natural fidgeting of able-bodied people (Sean Dukelow, MD, PhD, abstract 475.09).
• Carbon monoxide’s anti-inflammatory effects appear to accelerate healing in rats with spinal cord injury, possibly by altering the balance of immune cells and limiting the damage caused by molecules called free radicals (Yang Teng, MD, PhD, abstract 450.11).
• Social contact appears to lessen the pain that follows peripheral nerve injury. A new mouse study correlates the healing social behavior with biochemicals in the brain and spinal cord (Adam Hinzey, abstract 786.04).
“While the damage of SCI can appear to be immediate and dramatic, the biological events that lead to extensive nerve and tissue damage are complex, and injuries evolve over time,” said press conference moderator Jacqueline Bresnahan, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco, an expert on nervous system trauma caused by SCI. “Today researchers are finding ways to intervene in the cascade of molecular changes that follow SCI. From understanding immune cell responses to the healing power of social contact, researchers are finding new ways to treat and rehabilitate patients.”
National Institutes of Health, as well as private and philanthropic organizations, supported this research.
The average person living with SCI may not want to get their hopes up too soon, but the history of science is marked by a long chain of advances that once seemed improbable if not impossible.
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