Embryonic Stem Cells approved for Spinal Chord Injuries Research
Geron Pharmaceuticals received the approval almost a year after they’d made the request. This will be the first test using humans and embryonic stem cells. They are hoping, by using the undifferentiated stem cells to repair the spinal chord and restore motor function.
Geron will recruit about 10 people who have no motor function in the affected areas and will inject them with embryonic stem cells over a period of 14 days. The “embryonic cells are turned into another type of cell, which helps the nerve fibers replace myelin, the fatty insulating substance stripped away when spines are injured, inhibiting the body’s ability to transmit sensory signals.”
Geron had success with this treatment on paralyzed rats, but the procedure has never been tried on humans.
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