Rats Overcome Paralysis Without Spinal Cord Nerve Regeneration

Tuesday September 22, 2009

Spinal cord injury on paralyzed rats shows that functionality can be restored.

Photo: Argument

Recently, a study broke new ground in the body of knowledge around spinal cord injury rehabilitation. Previously scientists had been able to elicit limb movement in spinal cord injured people, but the movement did not involve weight bearing. This new study tested a combination of treatments that enabled paralyzed rats to use the treadmill in a nearly normal way. Study investigators say this discovery will have implications for people with spinal cord injuries.

The rats' treatments consisted of drugs, electrical stimulation and exercise. The rats were able to do a stepping like motion controlled by nerve activity (called circuits) that do not involve the use of the brain. If treatments are developed based on these findings, it could mean that regenerating nerves in the spinal cord is not necessary for patients to regain a lot of lost functionality.

_Sources:

1. Grégoire Courtine, Yury Gerasimenko, Rubia van den Brand, Aileen Yew, Pavel Musienko, Hui Zhong, Bingbing Song, Yan Ao, Ronaldo M Ichiyama, Igor Lavrov, Roland R Roy, Michael V Sofroniew & V Reggie Edgerton. Transformation of nonfunctional spinal circuits into functional states after the loss of brain input. Nature Neuroscience, 2009; DOI: 10.1038/nn.2401

2. University of California - Los Angeles (2009, September 21). Scientists Make Paralyzed Rats Walk Again After Spinal-cord Injury. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2009/09/090920204455.htm

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