What is Spinal Muscular Atrophy?
Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a neuromuscular disease characterized by degeneration of motor neurons, resulting in progressive muscular atrophy (wasting away) and weakness. The clinical spectrum of SMA ranges from early infant death to normal adult life with only mild weakness. SMA patients often require comprehensive medical care involving multiple disciplines, including pediatric pulmonology, pediatric neurology, pediatric orthopedic surgery, pediatric critical care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, respiratory therapy, and clinical nutrition.
The primary concern with SMA is muscle weakness, accompanied by atrophy of muscle. This is the result of loss of the signal to contract, which is transmitted from the spinal cord. This is normally transmitted from motor neurons in the spinal cord to muscle via the axon, but either the motor neuron with its axon, or the axon itself, is lost in all forms of SMA. The features of SMA are strongly related to its severity and age of onset. SMA caused by mutation of the SMN gene has a wide range, from infancy to adult, fatal to trivial, with different affected individuals manifesting every shade of impairment between these two extremes. Many of the symptoms of SMA relate to secondary complications of muscle weakness.
Treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy at Cellebration Life Sciences, Inc.
At Cellebration, we have mastered the technology for isolating the maximum number of viable stem cells from either the autologous sources of your own body or allogeneic with a matched donor to treat various patients with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. We are a licensed, private organization with a highly technologically equipped specialized facility under development designed to isolate and enrich the viable cell stems which will be infused into the patient. Stem cell treatment for Spinal Muscular Atrophy involves administration of concentrated cells in the targeted area to form colonies, adapt the properties of resident stem cells and initiate some of the lost functions that have been compromised by the disease or injury. These cells are administered through one of the methods after a considerable analysis of the patient’s unique history and medical professional’s advice.
- Intrathecal Administration:-In this mode, cells are infused in the cerebrospinal fluid through the subarachnoid spaces of the spinal canal.
- Intravenous Administration:- In this mode, cells are infused through the veins to expand blood volumes in the system, to ensure that the maximum number of cells reach the targeted area.
Once infused back in the body, these cells can be repopulated at the damaged areas of the spinal cord. Through their strong paracrine effects, they differentiate into lost neurons or other damaged supporting cells to improve motor as well as sensory functions of the spinal cord. Thus, with our standardized, broad based and holistic approach, it is now possible to obtain noticeable improvements in patients with Spinal Muscular Atrophy in symptoms as well as their functional abilities.
