Paralysed rats regain walking ability after treatment

[hellheaven1987]

Paralysed rats have been able to walk again after their spinal cords were bathed in chemicals and zapped with electricity, scientists have shown.

An injury to the spinal cord stops the brain controlling the body.

The study, in the journal Science, showed injured rats could even learn to sprint with spinal stimulation.

Experts said it was an "exceptional study" and that restoring function after paralysis "can no longer be dismissed as a pipedream".

In 2011, a man from Oregon in the US was able to stand up again while his spinal cord was stimulated with electricity. Rob Summers had been paralysed from the chest down after being hit by a car.

Now researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) say they have restored far more movement in rats which became able to run and climb stairs.

Source

Very interesting indeed; it does not just give new hope to paralyzed patients, but it also opens the possibility to develop biowares that our brain can control at will. No doubt, this can greatly benefit not just medical field but also military field in near future.

[SinerAthin]

Sounds like great news to me.

Anything that can contribute to giving humans a better life standard is a good thing to me.


Society could gain a lot by having 'invalidated' people healed and brought back into working conditions.

[Morbius Sire]

Hmm, I wonder if these electric 'zappings' could repair long term damage to the spinal cord ?(atrophied veins, vessels and arteries)

[NotYetRegistered]

How long does the treatment take?

Very cool, btw.

[Angrychris]

Frankenstein stuff

[Finnduil]

This opens possibilitites for limb transplants as well. They already exist, but the nerve growth can take years. Now it can be done in weeks.

[GrnEyedDvl]

Yeah thats pretty cool stuff. Science fiction becoming science fact once again.

[The Useless Member]

Awesome.