Effectiveness of olfactory ensheathing cell transplantation for treatment of spinal cord injury.

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness and safety of transplantation of olfactory ensheathing cells for functional repair of the spinal cord. An olfactory bulb was obtained from a 4- to 5-month-old aborted fetus, and it was digested into single olfactory ensheathing cells and then cultured and purified for 1 to 2 weeks. Under general anesthesia, these single-cell suspensions of olfactory ensheathing cells were injected into the corresponding spinal injury site with 0.45-mm-diameter injections. The American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale was used to evaluate spinal function. A total of 15 patients (12 men, 3 women; age range, 18-56 years; mean age, 40) were admitted for obsolete spinal injuries. Spinal functions of the 15 patients were observed and followed postoperatively for a period ranging from 2 weeks to 1 month. All the 15 patients exhibited improvements in spinal function, and the improvement tendencies continued. Twelve patients had obvious spinal function improvement, and three had slight improvement according to the ASIA scale, with an obvious difference between preoperation and postoperation measures (P < 0.05). No fevers, infections, functional deteriorations, or deaths were seen. Thus, transplantation of olfactory ensheathing cells promoted spinal and neurofunctional recovery in patients with malignant spinal injuries, and this therapeutic method was safe.

mRNA stability plays a major role in regulating the temperature-specific expression of a Tetrahymena thermophila surface protein.

Synthesis of the serotype H3 (SerH3) surface antigen is temperature dependent and responds within 1 h to a change in incubation conditions (G.A. Bannon, R. Perkins-Dameron, and A. Allen-Nash, Mol. Cell. Biol. 6:3240-3245, 1986). Recently, a Tetrahymena thermophila cDNA clone (pC6; D.W. Martindale and P.J. Bruns, Mol. Cell. Biol. 3:1857-1865, 1983) has been shown to be homologous to a portion of the SerH3 mRNA (F.P. Doerder and R.L. Hallberg, personal communication), and it was shown that the cellular levels of this RNA rapidly decreased when cells were shifted from 30 to 41 degrees C (R.L. Hallberg, K.W. Kraus, and R.C. Findly, Mol. Cell. Biol. 4:2170-2179, 1984). These observations indicate that synthesis of the SerH3 protein is highly regulated in response to temperature and led us to initiate studies to determine the mechanism(s) by which SerH3 gene expression is controlled. Using pC6 as a hybridization probe for the SerH3 mRNA, we have determined that (i) the level of SerH3 protein synthesis is directly correlated with the amount of SerH3 message available for translation; (ii) there is, at most, a twofold difference between the relative transcription rates of SerH3 genes at 30 and 40 degrees C; (iii) the SerH3 mRNA half-life in cells incubated at 30 degrees C is greater than 1 h, whereas the half-life in cells incubated at 40 degrees C is only approximately 3 min. These results demonstrate that Tetrahymena SerH3 surface protein expression is regulated by mRNA abundance. Furthermore, the major mechanism controlling mRNA abundance is a dramatic temperature-dependent change in SerH3 mRNA stability.