Since i'm not a subscriber to the lists anymore, i would appreciate it
if you forwarded the following to the mailing lists (tm- list;
quad-list; etc.).
Tell them that they can send comments if they have any to:
neti1gn(AT)netvision.net.il
Thanks, :)
Netta
****************************************************************************
********************
Hello everyone,
This morning (1st of July) I read in the newspaper about a major advance
in spinal cord repair, made by Dr. Michal Schwartz, from the department
of Neurobiology in Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel (a few km. from
my house!). I decided to check what it is all about, so i gave them a
call and asked them to fax me some more information about it. I received
a fax of a brief article published in "Nature Medicine", a science
magazine. The fax is not so readable, so i'm typing it up here :
Title: Scientists report a major advance in spinal cord repair
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------
Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, have
successfully regenerated spinal nerves in rat that had undergone
complete severing of the spinal cord. This adds to the hope that a
clinical therapy to improve neurological function in patients with
spinal cord injury could be developed.
Michal Schwartz and colleagues used a novel technique that involves
applying macrophages-- white blood cells necessary for the successful
healing of damaged tissue-- to the transected nerves. Prior to injection
into the lesion site of the spinal cord, the macrophages were exposed to
segments of rat peripheral nerve ex viva.
Treated animals showed a significant recovery of limb movement.
Furthermore, electrical stimulation of the spinal cord caused movement
in several muscles of the hind limb and histological analysis revealed
that the severed cord was re- connected after the procedure.
The researchers suggest that this method of injecting autologous
macrophages into the site of spinal cord injury may have clinical
potential in treating paraplegia.
Dr. Michal Schwartz
Department of Neurobiology
Weizmann Institute of Science
76100 Rehovot
Israel
Tel: 972- 8- 934- 2467
Fax: 972- 8- 934- 4131 / 946- 9219
Web Site: http://www.weizmann.ac.il (will be updated in a few days)
-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Netta Ganor E-mail: neti1gn(AT)netvision.net.ilHome Page: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Bistro/8922
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~