The Seattle Science Foundation began a $15 million five-year initiative to create a comprehensive 3-D atlas of the spinal cord, STAT reports. The atlas is intended to improve understanding and treatment of spinal cord injuries.
Here are six things to know.
1. According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, about 17,000 spinal cord injuries occur annually in the U.S.; more than 280,000 Americans currently live with an SCI. Motor vehicle crashes are the most common cause of SCI, followed by falls, violence and sports or recreational activities.
2. Phase 1 of the three-phase initiative involves digitizing the spinal cord using ultra-high-resolution and depth-of-field techniques to create a comprehensive, open-access atlas of normal spinal cord anatomy on the macroscopic level. Phase I is currently in progress.
3. The research team will use techniques such as focal stacking, image stitching and 3-D in-depth maps.
4. During phase 2, researchers will analyze and map the microscopic anatomy of tissues and cells in the normal spinal cord. They will slice the cord into thin sections, stain them and mount them onto slides for examination under high-power microscopes. The slides will be imaged and cataloged.
5. Phase 3 entails collecting data from the previous phases to create an online open-access 3-D virtual atlas platform, which will offer highly specific views of each layer of the spinal cord and its microcircuitry.
6. The initiative aims to make it possible to develop discreet electrodes and place them in the spinal cord with extreme precision to stimulate specific muscles. A person paralyzed by a SCI could then potentially regain movement in the muscles below the site of the SCI.
Here is more information on the three-phase initiative.
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