Xinhua News Agency, Jerusalem, February 7 (Reporter Shang Hao and Lu Yingxu) Tel Aviv University in Israel issued a statement on the 7th that researchers at the university have synthesized 3D human spinal cord tissue for the first time in the world, and this technology may allow paralyzed people to walk again.
Researchers at the university's Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology designed 3D human spinal cord tissue using human materials and cells and implanted it in a laboratory model with chronic paralysis, the statement said. The results showed the laboratory model's success in restoring walking ability. The rate is about 80%.
The technique uses a sample of fatty tissue from the patient's abdomen.
After isolating cells in adipose tissue from the extracellular matrix, the researchers used genetic engineering to reprogram the cells to transform them into 3D implants of neural networks containing motor neurons by mimicking the process of developing the human embryonic spinal cord.
The university's researchers are preparing for a clinical trial of 3D spinal cord tissue, which they hope will be implanted in paralyzed people within a few years to allow them to stand and walk again, the statement said.
The research results have been published in the German journal "Advanced Science".