Salmon fibrin and gene inhibitor improved lost spinal function

Scientists at the University of California-Irvine Reeve-Irvine Research Center found that, when lost spinal function occurred after a traumatic injury, a therapy that combines salmon fibrin injections into the spinal cord with injections of a gene inhibitor into the brain restored voluntary motor function.

In their study, which was discussed in a university press release and published in The Journal of Neuroscience, Oswald Steward and colleagues achieved this breakthrough by turning back the developmental clock in a molecular pathway critical to the formation of corticospinal tract nerve connections and by providing a scaffold for neuronal axons at the injury site to grow and link up again.

According to the release, the researchers found that salmon fibrin injected into rats with spinal cord injury (SCI) filled cavities at the injury site this gave the axons a framework in which to reconnect, and facilitated recovery. In the study the researchers treated rats that had impaired hand movement due to SCI with the salmon fibrin combine with a PTEN enzyme called AAVshPTEN.

"The data suggest that the combination of PTEN deletion and salmon fibrin injection into the lesion can significantly enhance motor skills by enabling regenerative growth of corticospinal tract axons," Steward stated in the release.