The functional effects of olfactory ensheathing cell transplantation on severe clinical spinal cord injury in dogs

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This project will determine whether transplanting a special type of cell improves the outcome after severe spinal cord injury (SCI) in dogs. These dogs will be veterinary patients – domestic dogs that have incurred SCI during their life as pets. Veterinary treatment of spinal cord injury (SCI) in dogs is very similar to that in humans, and similarly limited in its ability to restore lost function. We will transplant olfactory ensheathing cells (OEC), which are found in the parts of the nervous system that deal with olfaction (smell) and allow re-growth of previously damaged nerve fibres in the spinal cord, which normally does not happen. Their beneficial effect on recovery after experimental SCI in laboratory rats has been shown on numerous occasions but we now need to determine whether the effect in lab animals can be duplicated in real-life clinical injuries. This study in canine patients provides a missing link between experimental results in lab animals and the human clinic. The results of this project will be critically important for determining whether to go ahead with a human trial and will also provide important information for understanding how the spinal cord responds to injury.