In a new study published in Science Translational Medicine, Gladstone scientists show that stem cell-derived spinal neurons can integrate into damaged neural networks in rats and improve breathing-related motor function after a traumatic spinal cord injury.

Human Neurons Wire Into Rat Spinal Cords and Bolster Breathing

Engineered spinal interneurons grown from human stem cells survived inside injured rats, took input from the brainstem and passed signals on to the diaphragm, though every animal needed daily immunosuppression and the gain showed only under respiratory stress.