Brain Trauma MRI Rehman T, Ali R, Tawil I, Yonas H (CC licensed)

Scientists have developed a gel that helps brains recover from traumatic injuries. It has the potential to treat head injuries suffered in combat, car accidents, falls, or gunshot wounds. Developed by Dr. Ning Zhang at Clemson University in South Carolina, the gel is injected in liquid form at the site of injury and stimulates the growth of stem cells there.

Brain injuries are particularly hard to repair, since injured tissues swell up and can cause additional damage to the cells. So far, treatments have tried to limit this secondary damage by lowering the temperature or relieving the pressure at the site of injury. However, these techniques are often not very effective.

More recently, scientists have considered transplanting donor brain cells into the wound to repair damaged tissue. This method has so far had limited results when treating brain injuries. The donor cells often fail to grow or stimulate repair at the injury site, possibly because of the inflammation and scarring present there. The injury site also typically has very limited blood supply and connective tissue, which might prevent donor cells from getting the nutrients they require.

Dr. Zhang's gel, however, can be loaded with different chemicals to stimulate various biological processes at the site of injury. In previous research done on rats, she was able to use the gel to help re-establish full blood supply at the site of brain injury. This could help create a better environment for donor cells.

In a follow-up study, Dr. Zhang loaded the gel with immature stem cells, as well as the chemicals they needed to develop into full-fledged adult brain cells. When rats with severe brain injuries were treated with this mixture for eight weeks, they showed signs of significant recovery.

The new gel could treat patients at varying stages following injury, and is expected to be ready for testing in humans in about three years.

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18 Comments

Imagine how many people this could help.

MaxHubert

from montreal, quebec

Could this have some other appplication, like increasing the brain fonctions? That would be awesome.

I can just see it... A generation of genioses and perfect spellers...

The hard part will be getting the perfect balance where the gel promotes healing, but does not promote the growth of things you don't want, like tumors. And this balance could be different for each individual.

That's an ingenious idea... can it also be used foro spinal injuries and bone marrow stuff especially being that it has stem cell involved.... Like what if u had overy problems or heart or kidney probs can you use this gel to produce (or reproduce) functions regrow tissue form the inside(out). I love your invention.

ALIEN NATION

Medicine has come a long way, but this will be a whole new chapter in treating various types of brain injury; maybe even in the treatment of neuro-disorders such as Alzheimer's or Cerebral Palsy.

I wonder if this would be an effective treatment for spinal cord injuries. If so, this could be wonderful news for paralysed veterans, police, car accident victims,etc. The potential benefits here are huge and certianly not just limited to brain damage.

amazing...on a site that is part of the "science community" has NONE of those mad religious fanatics that are "stemming" the wave of progress in stem cell research

this is one of the few ideas that actually have amazing potential and isnt really that far away...this will be a common treatment in 10 years...im sure of it

I wonder if this could help those who have an old brain injury.
Or would it be too far past the stage for that to occur?
The article seems to indicate that it only works on recent brain injuries.

I agree with the first poster, this could definitely help many people. If this goes public think of the many benifits.

Would like to see if this treatment could restore my schizophrenic mother's frontal lobe. It'd be amazing to see her be able to function as a normal person again

I wonder how old the injury must be for this to help a person. My TBI is over 20 years old and to see that someone is working on a resolution for those of us with brain injuries is really encouraging. If this works it would bring so much hope to those who have brain injuries.

Quite interesting to know that stem cell gel can heal brain injuries.

The only "fly in the ointment" is that what do you get when you repair the brain? Don't forget your entire universe is between your ears.New brain tissue growth will produce a blank slate,and "you" will no longer be "you".

Medicine has really come a long way, but when will this will be a whole new chapter in treating various types of brain injury or hurting maybe even in the treatment of disorders such as Alzheimer's or Cerebral Palsy.

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Would like to see if this treatment could restore my schizophrenic mother's frontal lobe. It'd be amazing to see her be able to function as a normal person again
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Me pregunto cuántos años la lesión debe ser para que esto ayudará a una persona. Mi lesión cerebral traumática es más de 20 años de edad y para ver que alguien está trabajando en una resolución para aquellos de nosotros con lesiones cerebrales es muy alentador. Si esto funciona traería tanta esperanza a aquellos que tienen lesiones cerebrales.

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