Improving treatment of spinal cord injuries
Osmotic therapy device reduces swelling to prevent secondary injuries in
rats

Date:
August 12, 2020
Source:
University of California - Riverside
Summary:
Bioengineers have created an osmotic therapy device that gently
removes fluid from the spinal cord to reduce swelling in injured
rats with good results. The device can eventually be scaled up
for testing in humans.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
When injured, the spinal cord swells, restricting blood flow, resulting
in further, often critical and permanent motor, sensory, and autonomic
function damage. Rapid prevention of spinal cord swelling immediately
after injury is key to preventing more serious damage. The only treatment
to date has been steroid therapy with methylprednisolone, which is
minimally effective.


==========================================================================
Now, in an open-access paper published in Frontiers in Bioengineering
and Biotechnology, a group led by Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering Jacques S. Yeager, Sr. Professor of Bioengineering Victor
G. J. Rodgers and UCR School of Medicine biomedical sciences professor
Devin Binder describes an osmotic therapy device that gently removes
fluid from the spinal cord to reduce swelling in injured rats with good results. The device can eventually be scaled up for testing in humans.

The device consists of a tangential flow module supporting a semipermeable membrane connected to a hydrogel that rests on the exposed spinal cord.

Artificial cerebrospinal fluid containing the protein albumin to initiate osmosis passes across the device side of the membrane, transporting
water molecules from the spinal cord. Both fluids drain into a small
chamber and cycle again through the device to remove more water. The
amount of water removed is small compared to the amount of osmolyte,
allowing for recirculation.

The authors have found in previous studies that relatively small increases
in the percent of water content can cause significant swelling in the
brain. These experiments showed that the osmotic therapy device removed
enough water to prevent brain swelling and was capable of removing even
more. They also found that removing the excess water quickly enough in
brain swelling improved neurological outcomes. This is a key hope for
the spinal cord device as well.

The team plans to continue improving the device through longer experiments
on rats before eventually moving on to human trials.

Together with biomedical sciences professor Byron Ford, Rodgers is
developing a similar device that drains fluid directly from the brain
and introduces neuregulin-1, a molecule produced naturally by the body to regulate communication between cells in the brain and heart and promote
their growth, to improve treatment and reduce damage of severe strokes.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_California_-_Riverside. Original written by Holly
Ober. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Christopher Hale, Jennifer Yonan, Ramsey Batarseh, Roman Chaar,
Carrie R.

Jonak, Shaokui Ge, Devin Binder, Victor G. J. Rodgers. Implantable
Osmotic Transport Device Can Reduce Edema After Severe Contusion
Spinal Cord Injury. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology,
2020; 8 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.00806 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200812161312.htm

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