Preclinical studies on animals
As explained in more detail in the SCI section spinal cord injury results in a complex system of processes that lead to the inability of the spinal cord to transmit nerve signals from the brain to the muscles of the body and from the sensory organs back to the brain. At present there are many experimental therapies which aim to reverse certain aspects of these processes. An excerpt list of therapies can be found below. The list contains the compound or medication used, the company or laboratory that conducts the therapy/research, a brief comment about the general idea behind the approach, and the indication for which kind of neurological injury or disease it is under investigation: SCI - Acute or Chronic Spinal Cord Injury / ALS - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis aka Lou Gehrig's disease / TBI - Traumatic Brain Injury / MS - Multiple Sclerosis.
For more information please check the links provided.
Search
1 Neuroprotective therapies
| Supplement | Company/Lab | Comment | Indication | Link |
| Polyethylene glycol (PEG) | Shi / West Lafayette, USA | A hydrophilic polymer that can form a sealing film across the membrane breaks caused by mechanical damage | Acute SCI | Link |
| CD95L antibody | Martin-Villalba / Heidelberg, Germany | Blocking of CD95L which plays an essential role in various apoptotic mechanisms | Acute SCI | Link |
| Sema3A inhibitor (SM-216289) | Okano / Tokyo, Japan | Sema 3A is a repulsive molecule for nerve fiber growth mostly located in the glial scar. Continuous administration of this Sema3A inhibitor (4 weeks) leads to some axonal regeneration but mostly decreases secondary damage (apoptotic cell numbers) resulting in better functional recovery | Acute SCI | Link |
| Erythropoetin (EPO) | Gorio / Mailand, USA | EPO may have anti-apoptotic effects, may preserve the autoregulation of the blood flow (diminution of the ischemic damage), may reduce the oxydative stress and may induce the release of neuroprotective agents such as BDNF | Acute SCI, ALS | Link Link |
| P2X7 receptor inhibitor : OxATP or PPADS | Nedergaard / New York, USA | Diminution of the excitotoxicity-based neuronal degeneration | Acute SCI | Link |
| Riluzole (Rilutek©) | Aventis | Na+-channel blocker, glutamate antagonist; European authorization for ALS | SCI, ALS | Link |
| COX inhibitors | Schwab / Tuebingen, Boston, Germany/USA; Hulsebosch/Texas, USA; Guth, Virginia, USA | Indomethacin, ibuprofen, COX-2 inhibitors, acetaminophen. Suppression of lesional RhoA expression | Acute SCI | Link Link Link Link |
| Selfotel, Aptiganel, Gavestinel, Gacyclidine (GK-11), Dizocilpine (MK-801), Cerestat (CNS-1102) | Beaufor-Ipsen | Non-competitive NMDA antagonists. Gacyclidine failed in phase II due to the lack of efficacy. The majority of these molecules failed to show neuroprotective effects, and the others are also expected to do so | SCI, TBI | Link |
| Minocycline | Tetzlaff / Vancouver, Canada | Minocycline has shown some neuroprotective and gliaprotective effects in SCI | Acute SCI | Link Link |
2 Neurorestaurative therapies
| Supplement | Company/Lab | Comment | Indication | Link |
| Neurotransmitter | Orsal / Montpellier, France | Serotonin, clonidine | Chronic SCI | Link Link |
3 Neuroregenerative/ neuroreparative therapies
A Neutralization of inhibition
I Antagonists of inhibitory proteins or of their formation
| Supplement | Company/Lab | Comment | Indication | Link |
| Antagonisation of inhibitory myelin proteins | Schwab / Zürich, Switzerland McKerracher and David/ Montreal, Canada He /Boston USA | Facilitates nerve outgrowth through blocking the myelin inhibitory proteins, Nogo-A, MAG and OMgp | Acute SCI | Link Link Link |
| Chondroitinase ABC | Bradbury / London, UK | Facilitates nerve outgrowth through partial degradation of the scar tissue | Acute SCI | Link Link |
II Inhibition of the axonal inhibition signal integration
| Supplement | Company/Lab | Comment | Indication | Link |
| Rolipram (Phosphodiesterase inhibitor, PDE4D) | Filbin / New York, USA | Phosphodiesterase inhibitor (class IV) leads to an increase of cAMP. Interference with intraaxonal signalling elicited by growth inhibitors (upstream of Rho) | Acute SCI | Link Link |
| Go6976 - protein kinase C inhibitor | He / Boston, USA | Blocking of Protein kinase C (PKC) interfere with the intraaxonal signal integration elicited by myelin components and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs) | Acute SCI | Link |
| C3 transferase, Rho kinase inhibitor Y27632 | McKerracher / Montreal, Canada Strittmatter / New Haven, USA | Blocking of intraaxonal RhoA activation as a converging pathway elicited by most nerve growth inhibitors | Acute SCI | Link Link Link |
| Ng-R binding-fragment (NEP1-40 of Nogo-66) | Biogen / Strittmatter | Inhibition of the NOGO receptor (NgR) | Acute SCI | Link |
III Immunization against inhibitors
| Supplement | Company/Lab | Comment | Indication | Link |
| MAG | Bioaxone | Vaccination | Acute SCI | Link |
| Copaxon® (Glatiramer acetate) | Proneuron | MBP fragments for immunisation. FDA authorisation for MS available | Acute SCI and MS | Link |
B Axonal growth factors (Neurotrophic therapy)
| Supplement | Company/Lab | Comment | Indication | Link |
| NT-3, NGF, BDNF, NT-4 | Regeneron/ Amgen | Neurotrophins are intended as supportive treatment, partially in combination with other therapies | Acute and chronic SCI | Link |
| Inosine | Benowitz / Boston, USA | Stimulation of intracellular “neurotrophin-like” signalling | Acute SCI | Link |
4 Axon guidance (Regeneration specificity)
| Supplement | Company/Lab | Comment | Indication | Link |
| L1 fragments | Young / New York, USA | Soluble L1 protein promotes locomotor recovery of rats after thoracic spinal cord contusion | SCI | Link |
| EphrinA5-Fc (blockage of EphA4) | Turnley / Melbourne, Australia | Adult mice lacking EphA4 show axonal regeneration and reduced astrocytic gliosis after spinal cord hemisection, thus allowing them to have a functional recovery. | Acute and chronic SCI | Link |
5 Neuroreconstructive therapies
| Supplement | Company/Lab | Comment | Indication | Link |
| Peripheral nerve transplants | Carl Kao, Ecuador | Decompression and implantation of a section of the nervus suralis (Schwann cells), omentum transposition, physiotherapy, fampridine post-surgery | Chronic SCI | |
| Stem cells / embryonic spinal cord tissue | Craig Hospital / Englewood, USA | Transplantation of human embryonic spinal cord tissue to obliterate the re-expansion of spinal cord cysts, although there has been no evidence of spinal cord regeneration to date. An approval from the FDA is apparently pending | Chronic SCI | Link |
| Peripheral nerve transplants | Henreich Cheng, Taiwan | Peripheral nerve bridges and additional intrathecal application of growth factors | Chronic SCI | |
| Stem cells / ependymal cells | K. Park, Seoul, South Korea | Transplantation of ependymal cells in the injury site | Sub-acute SCI | |
| Stem cells / Marrow stromal cells | Olson / Stockholm, Sweden | MCS cells transplantation one week after the injury seems to improve both the amount of surviving cells at the site of injury and the gait | Chronic SCI | Link |
