Collection and Characterisation of Human Olfactory Ensheathing Cells

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Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition. To date there is no treatment to improve outcome. There is limited regenerative capacity of the central nervous system (CNS), such that damaged neurons and severed axons are not replaced. A substantial body of evidence suggests that olfactory ensh...

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition. To date there is no treatment to improve outcome. There is limited regenerative capacity of the central nervous system (CNS), such that damaged neurons and severed axons are not replaced. A substantial body of evidence suggests that olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) obtained from olfactory bulbs (OBs) facilitate neuronal regeneration in rodents and humans with SCI. Indeed, transplanting autologous OECs from an OB into the injury site improved neurological outcome in a patient with SCI. Harvesting autologous OBs to culture OECs has several disadvantages: If the OECs do not grow in vitro, the transplantation is abandoned; The retrieval procedure exposes a paralysed patient to the risks of craniotomy; Excising an OB can impair the sense of smell; and The number of OECs obtained is limited to one OB. Investigators will collect human OECs from suitable donors which we have defined as two groups. Group 1 patients will be brain dead donors identified by the neuro-intensive care team as potential candidates for solid organ donation. The OBs will be retrieved as near to death as possible. Group 2 patients will be living donors undergoing elective neurosurgery in which the olfactory nerve is sacrificed as part of that procedure. There are two OBs located at the anterior skull base, responsible for transmitting the sensation of smell from the nose to the brain. Obtaining OECs requires a craniotomy (opening the skull) to remove the OBs. PHASE 1 will be divided into 2 stages. In stage 1 we will culture OECs and characterise them in the central laboratory. We aim to determine how the yield of OECs and their regenerative properties are affected by freeze-thaw, time left at room temperature and time left at 40C before culture as well as patient age. Each harvested sample will be transferred to the lab for further processing. Processing includes but is not limited to histological fixation, sectioning and staining, cell culture and storage. Some OECs will be frozen in liquid nitrogen to determine whether they can indeed be stored. In stage 2 we will transfer OECs outside St. George's to a GMP facility (to be determined). In the GMP facility, the OECs will be processed and stored according to the optimised conditions we have determined. In PHASE 2, the OECs will be transplanted into patients with SCI.

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