美国加利福尼亚大学欧文分校11月9日发布公报称，该校研究人员利用人类胚胎干细胞使颈脊髓损伤的实验鼠恢复了运动能力。这一疗法将来有望在临床上用于治疗人体颈脊髓损伤。

这项研究成果9日公布在美国《干细胞》（Stem Cells）杂志电子版上。在实验中，研究人员将颈脊髓损伤的大鼠分为两组，一组体内注入人胚胎干细胞，另一组未注入。一周后观察发现，前一组大鼠的运动能力恢复到正常大鼠的97%；而对照组大鼠的运动能力仅为正常大鼠的38%。

实验结果还显示，人胚胎干细胞不但能促进大鼠体内形成一种名为髓磷脂的物质，加快神经冲动的传递，而且能够阻止大鼠组织死亡，促进神经元再生。

研究负责人汉斯·基尔斯特德介绍说，颈脊髓损伤患者的四肢运动能力、肠道、膀胱以及性功能都会削弱或基本丧失，目前并没有有效的治疗方法。此次对大鼠的治疗取得显著效果，如果该疗法将来能够提高人类颈脊髓损伤患者受损功能中的一种，也将是极大的成功。

原始出处：

STEM CELLS 28 Oct 2009 DOI:10.1002/stem.245

Human embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cell Transplants Improve Recovery after Cervical Spinal Cord Injury

Jason Sharp, Jennifer Frame, Monica Siegenthaler, Gabriel Nistor, Hans S. Keirstead *

Reeve-Irvine Research Center, Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center, Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, School of Medicine, 2111 Gillespie Neuroscience Research Facility, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697-4292

Evidence that cell transplants can improve recovery outcomes in spinal cord injury (SCI) models substantiates treatment strategies involving cell replacement for humans with SCI. Most pre-clinical studies of cell replacement in SCI examine thoracic injury models. However, as most human injuries occur at the cervical level, it is critical to assess potential treatments in cervical injury models and examine their effectiveness using at-level histological and functional measures. To directly address cervical SCI, we used a C5 midline contusion injury model and assessed the efficacy of a candidate therapeutic for thoracic SCI in this cervical model. The contusion generates reproducible, bilateral movement and histological deficits, although a number of injury parameters such as acute severity of injury, affected gray to white matter ratio, extent of endogenous remyelination, and at-level locomotion deficits do not correspond with these parameters in thoracic SCI. Based on reported benefits in thoracic SCI, we transplanted human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) into this cervical model. hESC-derived OPC transplants attenuated lesion pathogenesis and improved recovery of forelimb function. Histological effects of transplantation included robust white and gray matter sparing at the injury epicenter, and in particular, preservation of motor neurons that correlated with movement recovery. These findings further our understanding of the histopathology and functional outcomes of cervical SCI, define potential therapeutic targets, and support the use of these cells as a treatment for cervical SCI.