Polyamine, a Hope for Spinal cord Injuries

 

She was told it was impossible.

For 30 years nobody funded her research. Nobody believed in what she was studying. She was a Brazilian biologist working alone on a question that the medical world had already given up on.

What if the spinal cord could heal itself?

Her name is Dr. Tatiana Coelho de Sampaio.

And she never stopped asking.

She discovered a protein called laminin. The same substance that guides our neurons as we grow in the womb. She figured out how to polymerize it. How to make it more powerful. How to inject it into a broken spinal cord and give damaged neurons a road to grow back on.

Paralyzed rats walked again.

Dogs with chronic spinal cord injuries regained movement.

Then came the human study.

Eight patients. Complete spinal cord injuries. A single injection within 72 hours of trauma.

Every single survivor regained voluntary motor control below the level of their lesion.

Every. Single. One.

I have spent decades in the operating room. I have sat with patients and families after the kind of injuries that change everything in an instant. I know what it feels like to deliver news that leaves no room for hope.

This leaves room for hope.

It is still experimental. Clinical trials are just beginning. Dr. Sampaio herself calls it a promise. Not yet a proven cure.

But this is how medicine changes forever.

Does polylaminin work?

Polymerized laminin promoted axonal regeneration and functional recovery in rats and dogs. Eight people treated with laminin demonstrated voluntary motor contraction. Brazil has authorized a phase 1 human study.Feb 26, 2026

Regeneration of spinal cord injury (SCI) is a major topic of biomedical research. Laminin is an extracellular matrix protein implicated in neural development and regeneration, but despite that, there are no reports of exogenous laminin contributing to improve the outcome of experimental SCI. Here we investigated whether a biomimetic polymer of laminin assembled on pH acidification, henceforth called polylaminin, could be used to treat SCI in rats. Acute local injection of polylaminin, but not of nonpolymerized laminin, improved motor function after thoracic compression, partial or complete transection. In the latter case, the BBB score for open field locomotion 8 wk after lesion increased from 4.2 ± 0.48 to 8.8 ± 1.14 in animals treated with polylaminin of human origin. Accordingly, neurons retrogradely labeled from the sublesion stump were detected in the spinal cord and brain stem, indicating regrowth of short and long fibers across a complete transection. Polylaminin also played an unsuspected anti-inflammatory role, which underlies the early onset of its positive effects on locomotion from the first week after treatment. The beneficial effects of polylaminin were not observed in animals treated with the nonpolymerized protein or vehicle only. We propose that polylaminin is a promising therapeutic agent to treat human SCI.

One person. One question. Thirty years of not giving up.

Save this. Share it with someone who needs to believe that what was broken can be rebuilt.

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Trump signs executive order to research psychedelics, including ibogaine, for mental health treatment - CBS News

President Trump has signed an executive order to ease research restrictions on psychedelics, including the drug ibogaine, which is used in some countries to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. 

Health officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and podcaster Joe Rogan joined Mr. Trump in the Oval Office for the signing Saturday. 

Mr. Trump said the order will "dramatically accelerate access to new medical research and treatments based on psychedelic drugs," which he said have shown "life-changing potential." 

Mr. Trump said that the federal government will make a $50 million research investment into psychedelic research. He said the federal government was also opening a pathway for ibogaine to be administered to "desperately ill patients" under the Food and Drug Administration's Right To Try rule.  

"Everybody is so strongly in favor of this. It's for a lot of people, but it's for our veterans in particular," Mr. Trump said, highlighting veteran suicide rates. 

"If these turn out to be as good as people are saying it's going to have a tremendous impact on this country and in other countries too," Mr. Trump added. 

Food and Drug Administration commissioner Marty Makary said that three psychedelics would be added to the National Priority Voucher pilot program, which is a pathway meant to dramatically reduce review times for drug and biological products that align with U.S. national health priorities. The FDA will also begin the process to allow for researchers to conduct human trials into ibogaine's use, he said. 

"This is an unmet public health need and there are potentially promising treatments," Makary said. "That's why there is a sense of urgency around this."

CBS News first reported that Mr. Trump was expected to sign the order earlier this week. 

Ibogaine is a naturally occurring compound found in a shrub native to Africa. It has been used to treat depression, anxiety, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder and brain trauma. Researchers say ibogaine could eventually fill a gap in addiction treatment, particularly for opioid dependence, but more large-scale clinical trials are needed before it can be considered safe or effective for any condition.

Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who served in Mr. Trump's first administration, said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that early studies into ibogaine and other psychedelics have shown "potential for rapid improvements in symptoms and functioning in treatment-resistant cases" of people with mental health illnesses.

The order maintains full FDA and Drug Enforcement Administration oversight, Adams said, and does not legalize or reclassify psychedelics. 

The scientific evidence behind the drug so far consists mostly of small observational studies and open-label trials. Only one double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial has been completed. More advanced trials have been started recently, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill approving $50 million for research last year. It is unclear how the federal government will help facilitate further research. Sources told CBS News that strategies were still being hammered out in internal discussions this week. 

As a Schedule I substance, ibogaine is currently grouped by the Drug Enforcement Administration alongside substances including heroin and ecstacy. Americans have traveled to unregulated clinics, often in Mexico or the Caribbean, to take the drug. Studies show that ibogaine can cause dangerous heart rhythm disturbances, which can be fatal. A 2023 review of 24 studies including 705 people called the risk of death from heart problems "worrying," and showed that at least 27 people have died after taking ibogaine.  

Trump signs executive order to research psychedelics, including ibogaine, for mental health treatment - CBS News

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

American Coke differs from European Coke primarily by using high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as a sweetener, whereas most European countries use cane sugar or beet sugar. This creates a sweeter, stickier, or slightly different flavor profile in the US, while European Coke is often perceived as having a "cleaner" sweetness. 

Here are the key differences:

• Sweetener: U.S. Coke relies on HFCS, which is cheaper and domestically produced, compared to sucrose in Europe.
• Taste Profile: American Coke is generally described as sweeter and sometimes described as having a slightly metallic or vanilla aftertaste. European Coke is often considered to have a more distinct "tang" or "tea-like" flavour.
• Ingredients/Production: While the core formula is similar, regional bottlers use local water and sweeteners, causing subtle variations.
• Packaging and Sugar: Some eastern European countries may use fructose-glucose syrup, but Western Europe primarily uses white sugar. 

This difference is aso. the same for Mexican Coke.

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is primarily used in Coca-Cola within the United States, as the company shifted to this sweetener in 1984. Other countries using fructose-glucose syrup include some Eastern European nations such as Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, and Bulgaria. 

• United States: Uses HFCS 55, which is a blend of fructose and glucose.
• Eastern Europe: Some Central/Eastern European countries use fructose-glucose syrup.
• Other Regions: While many nations (notably Mexico) use cane sugar (sucrose), some countries might use a mix of sweeteners based on cost and local sourcing.
• Exceptions: "Mexican Coke" (popular in the US) is traditionally made with cane sugar rather than fructose. 

 Fructose is considered "toxic" when consumed in high amounts because it is metabolized primarily in the liver, where it triggers non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), insulin resistance, and chronic inflammation. Unlike glucose, high fructose intake leads to rapid fat synthesis (lipogenesis), elevated uric acid (causing high blood pressure), and increased belly fat.

Fructose is considered "toxic" when consumed in high amounts because it is metabolized primarily in the liver, where it triggers non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), insulin resistance, and chronic inflammation. Unlike glucose, high fructose intake leads to rapid fat synthesis (lipogenesis), elevated uric acid (causing high blood pressure), and increased belly fat.High-fructose corn syrup vs. cane sugar in foods: The cost of switching ingredients

• Bulk high-fructose corn syrup cost about $0.35 per pound for 2025, only rising from $0.27 in 2015, and remaining fairly close to this price in the past few years, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).  In comparison, the price of refined white sugar is $1.01, which is up substantially from $0.61 in 2015.

  On Wednesday, President Donald Trump relayed that Coca-Cola agreed to use "real" cane sugar in Coke sold in the United States. 

• There are some serious economic concerns affecting American farmers.  Farmers now receive a 5.6 billion dollar subsidy

• Fructose can cause liver cirrhosis and fatty liver degeneration if consumed in large quantities.

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