In 2020 CIC biomaGUNE’s Carbon Bionanotechnology research group, led by the Ikerbasque Research Professor Maurizio Prato, demonstrated that carbon nanotube implants in rats rapidly bring about the recovery of motor activity after a paralyzing spinal cord injury. Carbon nanotubes are tubes made of carbon atoms with a diameter in the order of nanometers (equivalent to one billionth of a meter), which are intended to “provide an artificial support that can mimic and stimulate neuronal electrical connections. Our nanotubes are like electrical wires that go from one neuron to another; they temporarily replace the connections that have been broken between one neuron and another, and thus give the neurons the opportunity to reconnect with each other”, explained Prato, one of the world's leading experts on graphene and carbon nanotubes.
This structure, comprising carbon nanotubes and implanted in the injured spinal cord of patients, “can bridge the gap created by the spinal cord injury and allow the return of motor and sensory function”, explained Núria Alegret, a former researcher in the group who is currently working on the project at the Biogipuzkoa Health Research Institute as an Ikerbasque Research Fellow.
The path to bring this novel solution to restore motor functions in patients suffering from spinal cord injuries to clinical practice has to pass through various stages. Right now, the project is in the preclinical stage: “We are studying cases of injury most similar to that of human chronic patients; these cases have a significant medullary distance, a scar in the sectioned cord and span the entire thickness of the cord,” said Alegret, the project promoter.
Within the Proof of Concept program the European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a grant to CIC biomaGUNE with the aim of obtaining accurate images of anatomical neuronal connectivity inside the spinal cord; carbon nanodots are used as neuroanatomical tracers in combination with the nanotube structure. Carbon nanodots are spherical nanoparticles comprising mostly carbon; their intense luminescence means that their properties are ideal for use in biomedical imaging, with applications in new therapies as well as in diagnostics.
In vivo study
Proof of Concept grants are designed to explore the commercial or social potential of results obtained in research projects that have already received an ERC grant. “Thanks to the latest carbon nanodots developed in our group and used in combination with the nanotube structure,” said Professor Prato, “we will be able to display the spinal cord in vivo; we will be able to increase the MRI signal so that we can monitor the animals over time without having to euthanize them”. So the researchers are hoping to take further steps in demonstrating the technical and economic feasibility of the spinal cord reconnection strategy by improving the design and production processes of the implants, the restoration of motor function in small mammals, and the design of a business model.
Nearly 30 years have passed since Professor Maurizio Prato started “putting neurons in contact with nanotubes”, and along the way the research group has received numerous grants enabling progress to be made. The one that stands out among them all is the ERC Advanced Grant (one of the most prestigious ERC grants providing 2.5 million euros) awarded to Professor Prato in 2008 to develop the spinal cord reconnection project using nanotubes and with which the 2020 results were achieved. But it is also worth mentioning the AXA Chair, the grant obtained through the CaixaImpulse 2023 call for proposals, and the grant awarded by the State Research Agency and the Charter Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa. Prato was also awarded another ERC Advanced Grant in 2021 to develop carbon nanodots for bioimaging and diagnostics. The Proof of Concept announced in this press release has therefore come about thanks to developments enabled by the aforementioned ERC Advanced Grants.
“At the end of this project we hope to have acquired all the data necessary to move, in the next stages of the project, firstly towards large animals, and subsequently clinical trials,” the researchers added. Right now, CIC biomaGUNE and the Biogipuzkoa Health Research Institute have signed an agreement guaranteeing the continuity of the research work. CIC biomaGUNE will be responsible for developing the implants under Prato’s direction, and at the Biogipuzkoa Health Research Institute Núria Alegret will be in charge of the preclinical studies. The ultimate goal of the project, they say, “is to reconnect the spinal cord: to ensure that the functions are restored, that the nerves can remain connected, and that the motor functions of people suffering from this type of injury can be restored”.