Nose cells help paralyzed man walk again

"Cell transplant allows paralyzed man to walk again, researchers say" by CNN staff, Susannah Cullinane, John Bonifeld and Trisha Henry  October 23, 2014

ttp://www.cnn.com/2014/10/23/health/paralysis-cell-transplant/

A cell transplant has allowed a paralyzed man to walk again. Scientists at University College London, developed a treatment which involved olfactory ensheathing cells (OEC) from the nose being transplanted into the patients spinal cord. OEC's purpose in the nose is to allow the sense of smell to return to the nose when the nerve cells are damaged. This procedure was performed by injecting the OECs above and below the patients spinal cord gap. Three months after the surgery, the patient's thigh muscles strengthened and the patient was able to walk with leg braces. This procedure was possible because with a spinal injury, the nerve fibers are severed so that impulses that carry movement down from the brain to the body are cut off. The nervous system is actually capable of repairing itself, only with this injury, there is no pathway to bridge the injury. The OECs carry out the same regenerative function for the nerve fibers of the spinal cord as they do for the olfactory system, so theoretically they would be able to bridge the gap in the injury and allow the nerves to repair themselves. 

This story relates directly to our study of cells and the specific functions they have. The OECs serve one purpose, which is to regenerate damaged nerve cells. By understanding this function, the same reasoning can be applied to the severed spinal cord utilizing an understanding of cellular work.