Page 24 - Demo

24 Insight Magazine Winter 2025 ResearchA bit about spinal cord injuriesThe spinal cord runs up your back, sending and receiving signals between the body and the brain. If the cord is damaged, through disease or injury, those signals can%u2019t travel properly. This can lead to loss of motor control, feeling and bodily functions below the level of the damage. When spinal cord injuries (SCI) occur, the body responds by generating inflammation in the area, and some of the cells die through a controlled process called apoptosis. These make the initial damage worse, further contributing to loss of function. The particular cells most affected by SCI are like the retinal ganglion cells, because they%u2019re relatively long cells, which send signals to or from the brain. They share many structural similarities such as a long cell body wrapped in fatty sheaths called myelin (to support the transmission of nerve signals) and many connections to other cells. They%u2019re both cells within the central nervous system, or CNS (the brain and spinal cord). We also have the peripheral nervous system, which connects the CNS to the rest of the body (see diagram on p23).Research into SCI is heavily focused on neuro-regeneration, which looks at repairing and restoring damage to the spinal cord cells. In lots of ways that%u2019s similar to neuroprotection, because both involve damage to nerve cells, and either undoing that damage, or stopping it in the first place.Nerve cell renewalOne of the specific challenges with nerve cells in the CNS is that they don%u2019t regrow if they%u2019re damaged. Compare that to skin cells. If you cut yourself, your skin will regrow to cover the cut (possibly with some scar tissue). The nerve cells in your skin should recover too. Your body is also constantly replenishing the blood %u2013 in fact, all your blood cells are completely renewed every couple of months! But if a nerve cell in the CNS is damaged, neither the cell nor the surrounding tissue has the capacity to regrow that cell. This renewal could involve special cells called stem cells. They%u2019re undifferentiated, meaning they haven%u2019t turned into a specialised cell such as a red blood cell, skin cell or neuron. SCI researchers are looking at harnessing stem cells, creating new nerve cells to replace the damaged ones. But this comes with its own set of challenges, such as how to re-create the connections the previous cell had, or how to direct its growth all the way from the site of damage to the brain. Bear in mind, the complex machinery which supported this growth when the original cell developed (for example as an embryo) no longer exists. %u201cGlaucoma and spinal cord injuries both involve damage to nerve cells