Company begins to map spinal cord

Posted by greg
July 22, 2008

 By Greg George
CEO
Spinal Cord Resources.com

 

Roskams, the same company that mapped the mouse brain that is now used for brain disease research is focusing it’s attention to the spinal cord. Many of the cells and structures are not understood and because of that trying to treat spine problem can be very difficult. Mice will also be used for this mapping project because the are cheap, easy to work with, and their brain is over 95% similar to ours. It is hoped that by mapping out all of the cellular structures of the spine that drugs can be developed to target specific problems. The differences are also a place for research because mice have much better repair facilities with regards to spinal cord injuries. Mice can recover almost completely from spinal cord damage if certain drugs are used to get damage repair cells to be deployed. Several studies tried to take research from mice and see if it worked on people but the differences kept the drugs from working as expected. With this map, changes to the drugs can be made to make sure that correct cells are being targeted so the spinal cord is repaired.

This should show everyone that there is a tremendous amount of basic science that needs to be performed before realistic cures are found for spinal cord injuries. There are just too many cells and structures that are not understood and until we do we are just shooting blindly into the night. One must understand engines before working on them or it may not start when you are done. That analogy is very similar to complicated cellular structures like the spinal cord. Unless we fully understand what all the cells so and how they work together we are running the strong risk of doing more harm then good. It is easy to get excited about new potential therapies, but spending a wad of money on unproven and dangerous procedures is ridiculous.

No one wants to sit around in a wheelchair if there is a medical procedure to fix the problem. But throwing your body at those that promise what others cannot recreate is a recipe for disaster.

Medical

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