Human Neural Stem Cells Repair Spinal Cord Injury in Primates

Surgeons and neuroscientists in the U.S. have successfully grafted human neural progenitor cells (NPCs) into rhesus monkeys with spinal cord injuries (SCIs). The grafts sent out hundreds of thousands of new human axons across the damaged tissue to connect with functional neuronal circuits in the animals’ spinal cords, resulting in improved limb function. The work, headed by a team at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), represents a significant bridge between earlier work in rod