More Research Needed On Spinal Cord Injuries

FORT WAYNE -- Back pain, knee reconstruction and spinal cord injuries are the current research focus of Indiana University School of Medicine -- Fort Wayne professor of anatomy Joel Vilensky, Ph.D. He is the recipient of research grants for back pain and knee ligament reconstruction and has published a research manuscript recently on spinal cord injuries.

Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals awarded a $2,760 grant to Dr. Vilensky for research to determine where pain signals from the sacroiliac joint enter the spinal cord. Dr. Vilensky and his associates have used a neurological tracing technique to localize the origin of pain fibers. This information will help define treatment for back pain in the sacroiliac joint. The researchers are in the process of applying for another grant to extend their research. Collaborators include Robert Sweazy, Ph.D., assistant professor of anatomy at the IU School of Medicine -- Fort Wayne, Joseph Fortin, D.O., from Fort Wayne and Bryan O’Connor, Ph.D., IU School of Medicine.

Stumbling is the focus of the second grant, which was awarded in the amount of $12,498 by the IU School of Medicine Biomedical Research Committee. The research team is comparing the occurrence of stumbling in persons who have had a reconstructed knee ligament and persons who have a normal, healthy knee. It is suspected that knee ligaments have a sensory function that acts as a protective mechanism when pain or weakness occurs. If this is true, then a reconstructed knee ligament would not be able to reproduce the sensory function of the original ligament. Instead, it could only reproduce the physical structure of the ligament. According to Dr. Vilensky, this may explain why people with reconstructed knee ligaments don’t always have a good recovery after surgery. Collaborating with Dr. Vilensky is Dr. Jerald Cooper of Fort Wayne.

A review of current research on spinal cord injuries and a recommendation for further research was published earlier this year by Dr. Vilensky and Dr. O’Connor in the Journal of Motor Control. According to Dr. Vilensky, the majority of animal research on walking movement after spinal cord injury has been conducted in cats, but because of potential differences in spinal circuitry, this research should not be directly applied to humans with spinal cord injuries. Dr. Vilensky and Dr. O’Connor suggest that further research in primates is needed before assumptions can be made about potential human ability to walk after spinal cord injury.

For more information on any of this research, please contact Jackie Banister or Ellen Gullett at the numbers below.

The IU School of Medicine -- Fort Wayne is one of eight regional medical education centers operated by the IU School of Medicine. The Fort Wayne Center was established in 1981 and is located on the Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne campus. Sixteen first-year and 16 second-year students are enrolled each year at the Fort Wayne Center and receive their basic science training before transferring to the main IU School of Medicine campus in Indianapolis for their third- and fourth-year clinical training. In addition to the Center’s medical education curriculum and basic science research, it also offers summer exploration and research programs for undergraduate and graduate students, and a twice-a-year lectures series for the general public entitled Mini Medical School.

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