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UCLA researchers awarded $6 million for spinal cord injury research
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The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering awarded Daniel C. Lu, MD, PhD, and Reggie Edgerton, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, a $6 million, 5-year grant to explore new therapies for Americans living with spinal cord injuries.
“Spinal cord injury typically strikes people in the prime of their lives, with nearly half between ages 16 [years]and 30 [years],” Lu, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a clinician at the UCLA Spine Center, stated in a press release. “Currently there are no effective treatments for spinal cord injury, and the resulting paralysis has been viewed as permanent. We are exploring ways to change that.”
The research will focus on restoring hand function to patients paralyzed from the neck down. Looking to build on findings from Edgerton’s earlier work on lumbar spinal cord injury, the researchers are looking to help patients with cervical spinal cord injuries regain the use of their hands.
The first therapy approach will use electrical impulses to stimulate dormant pathways within the spinal cord. Researchers will place an electrode on the patient’s skin and if the electrical stimulation elicits a positive response, the patient may choose surgical implantation of the electrode under the skin near the spinal injury. The stimulation is being tested at various power levels, rates and locations to fine-tune the most effective dosage and application, which will be customized to each patient and their injury.
A second therapy approach will include the use of drugs, particularly the off-label use of serotonergic agonists used to treat depression, to improve function. By using drugs that increase serotonin levels within the spinal cord, the researchers hope to open up communication pathways that cells ordinarily would not recognize and to study how this affects patients’ ability to use and control their hands.
“Recovering the ability to use one’s hands is a top priority for people with cervical spinal cord injury,” Lu said. “We aim to restore patients’ independence by returning their ability to type on a keyboard, open doors and transfer themselves between their bed and wheelchair.”