Japanese researchers said in a paper published in the 17th issue of the American Journal of Clinical Investigation that they effectively regenerated nerve cells and restored the ability to walk in laboratory rats with spinal cord injuries in animal experiments using neural stem cells and antiepileptic drugs. In previous animal experiments, researchers at Nara University of Advanced Science and Technology and Kagoshima University in Japan had tried to repair damaged nerves by transplanting induced multifunctional stem cells (iPS cells) to lab rats, but the probability of stem cells developing into nerve cells was less than 1 percent. And if the disease is severe, it is difficult to recover. Later, the researchers discovered that the antiepileptic drug valproic acid could alter the genetic structure of neural stem cells to efficiently differentiate to generate nerve cells. After six weeks, 15 of the 21 rats were able to walk again, although their legs were not very handy, and the remaining six had much improved symptoms. If the nerve cells developed from the transplanted stem cells were removed, the rats lost the ability to walk again, demonstrating that the transplanted stem cells had an immediate effect in rebuilding the neural network. In contrast, transplanted stem cells followed by valproic acid injection increased the probability of stem cells developing into neural cells to about 20%. The new method is a major step forward in treating spinal cord injuries caused by traffic accidents or falls, which often result in loss of consciousness in the lower half of the body and were previously very difficult to treat. The researchers named the technique the “HINT” method, and they will conduct experiments on primates in the future in the hope that it can be applied to clinical treatment soon. This is the first attempt in the world to use a combination of stem cells and antiepileptic drugs,” said Prof. Kinichi Nakajima of the research team. This method is not only applicable to spinal cord injury, but may also be used to treat stroke, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, etc., which accompany nerve damage.”