• Preventing the progression of spinal muscular atrophy in children and adults with gene therapy and herbal extracts
  • yeganeh jafari,1,*


  • Introduction: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a rare neuromuscular disorder that results in the loss of motor neurons and progressive muscle wasting.It is usually diagnosed in infancy or early childhood and if left untreated it is the most common genetic cause of infant deathIt may also appear later in life and then have a milder course of the disease. The common feature is progressive weakness of voluntary muscles, with arm, leg and respiratory muscles being affected first. Associated problems may include poor head control, difficulties swallowing, scoliosis, and joint contractures. In the treatment method for people with the disease (children and adults), we use gene therapy and extracts of complementary medicinal plants that have a lot of protein to treat this disease. Among these plants, we can mention (spirulina algae, elderberry, hemp seed, walnut, Irish moss, whey protein, etc.). In this method, which is for children and adults, we use gene therapy, which is the main and basic method of this type of treatment, and its complementary method, which is the use of medicinal plant extracts. This extract of medicinal plants contains the protein gene related to smn1 protein.
  • Methods: This study is an interventional (experimental) clinical study that will be carried out in vivo and in genetics, pathology and biomolecular research laboratories. levels 1- Performing preliminary tests 2- Isolation of healthy smn1 gene from eukaryotic organisms (one patient or Drosophila) 3- Injection of healthy smn1 gene into the target tissue in the spinal canal 4- Using the treatment method (combination of complementary medicinal plant extracts) 5- Conducting tests to get the results and performance of motor neurons
  • Results: Medicinal plant extracts can compensate for the lack of this protein in the human body and can be used as an adjunct to gene therapy and also have a positive effect on gene therapy. Also, using this method for treatment will cost much less than other drugs and this method can be used to treat all ages.
  • Conclusion: By using this method, the progress of the disease in the patient will be stopped and it will not cause any side effects to the body. Also, this extract of medicinal plants is great for the proper functioning of the human body system and will prevent the symptoms of the disease.
  • Keywords: 1-Spinalmuscularatrophy 2-Motorneurons