Japanese researchers said Wednesday that have consumed stem cells to restore partial mobility in a small monkey paralyzed from low neck by a spinal injury.
"It's first case the planet in which a small primate recovered lesion of the spinal column to stem cells," Professor Hideyuki Okano, of the University of Keio University in Tokyo said AFP.
Okano, who previously assisted a mouse retrieve its mobility in a similar treatment, injected stem (iPS) so-called cell research team pluripotent induced in a paralysed marmosets, he said.
Team planted four types of genes in human skin cells to create cells iPS, Kyodo News.
The injection has been given the ninth day after injury, regarded as the most effective time and monkey began to move its members again within two to three weeks, said Okano.
"After six weeks, animal had recovered to the level where it was jumping," he told AFP. "It was very close to normal levels.
"His grip strength on the legs before also restored to up to 80 percent."
Okano called project, a milestone to pave the way for a medical technique similar to be used on humans.
Scientists say the use of human embryonic stem cells as a treatment for cancer and other diseases is very promising, but the process fired fires of religious conservatives and others who oppose.
Embryonic stem cell research is controversial because human embryos are destroyed to obtain cells develop in almost all tissues of the body.
No comments:
Post a Comment