University of Limerick uncover breakthrough in treatment of spinal cord tissue repair

'The impact that spinal cord injury has a on a patient’s life is not only physical, but also psychological, since it can severely affect the patient’s mental health.'

A team at the University of Limerick has made a significant development in the treatment of “one of the most debilitating traumatic injuries”.

The new research conducted at UL’s Bernal Institute has made an exciting development in the field of spinal cord tissue repair.

The UL team, led by Professor Maurice N Collins, associate professor of the School of Engineering at UL and lead author Aleksandra Serafin, a PhD candidate at UL, used a new kind of scaffolding material and a unique new electricity conducting polymer composite to promote new tissue growth and generation that could advance the treatment of spinal cord injury.

“Spinal cord injury remains one of the most debilitating traumatic injuries a person can sustain during their lifetime, affecting every aspect of the person’s life,” Prof Collins said.

The treatment for patients with this disorder comes at a price, with annual healthcare costs for spinal cord injury patient care coming to a huge $9.7bn (€9.3bn) in the US alone.

Professor Collins said as “there is currently no widely available treatment, continuous research into this field is crucial to find a treatment to improve the patient’s quality of life”, outlining how the research field has opted to develop tissue engineering for new treatment strategies.

The research team detailed a growing interest in the use of electroconductive tissue engineered scaffolds that has emerged due to the improved cell growth and proliferation when cells are exposed to a conductive scaffold.

“Raising the conductivity of biomaterials to develop such treatment strategies typically centres on the addition of conductive components such as carbon nanotubes or conductive polymers such as PEDOT:PSS, which is a commercially available conductive polymer that has been used to date in the tissue engineering field.

Ms Serafin explained that severe limitations exist when increasing the potential of biomaterials to develop treatment strategies, such as the addition of conductive polymers such as PEDOT:PSS, a common polymer used to date.

She said “the polymer relies on the PSS component to allow it to be water soluble” but upon implantation into the body “it displays poor biocompatibility”. 

“This means that upon exposure to this polymer, the body has potential toxic or immunological responses, which are not ideal in an already damaged tissue which we are trying to regenerate. This severely limits which hydrogel components can be successfully incorporated to create conductive scaffolds,” she added.

To overcome this limitation, the research team developed biocompatible scaffolds (PEDOT NPs) suitable for targeted spinal cord injury repair.

Upon studying the performance of the PEDOT NP scaffolds with stem cells, the team reported excellent stem cell attachment and growth could be observed.

Overall, these results show the potential of these materials for spinal cord repair, say the research team.

"The impact that spinal cord injury has a on a patient’s life is not only physical, but also psychological, since it can severely affect the patient’s mental health, resulting in increased incidences of depression, stress, or anxiety,” Ms Serafin said.

“Treating spinal injuries will therefore not only allow for the patient to walk or move again but will allow them to live their lives to their full potential, which makes projects such as this one so vital to the research and medical communities. 

"In addition, the overall societal impact in providing an effective treatment to spinal cord injuries will lead to a reduction in healthcare costs associated with treating patients."