By Tamara Cohen
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Paralysed patients have been given fresh hope after scientists enabled rats with severed spines to run again.
Using a cocktail of drugs and electrical impulses, researchers ‘regrew’ nerves linking the spinal cord to the brain.
After two weeks, the animals were not only able to walk, but climb stairs and run on a treadmill.
Climbing the steps: Researchers at EPFL have successfully used electrochemical stimulation to restore voluntary movement following a paralysing spinal cord injury
After only a few weeks of stimulation, nerve connections begin to grow again - and this could be of huge significance for the 50,000 sufferers
Professor Gregoire Courtine said the study revealed the body could recover from some injuries previously thought to cause permanent paralysis.
His team, based in Switzerland, believe human trials could begin next year for patients with spinal injuries thanks to a £7million grant.
There are around 50,000 people with spinal cord injuries in Britain.
In tests at the University of Zurich, rats had their spine tissue cut but not completely severed.
They were unable to walk as they could no longer receive signals from the brain. But when they were suspended in a vest on their hind legs, and the bottom of their spine stimulated using drugs and electrical impulses, the dormant nerves were reactivated.
Signals from the brain were able to ‘bypass’ the injury and restore contact with the lower body.
Mighty mouse: Researchers at EPFL used electrochemical stimulation to grow nerve connections
Now that the principle has been demonstrated on rats, it may one day offer humans with spinal cord injuries hope for functional improvement of their condition
Professor Courtine said: ‘This is the World Cup of neuro-rehabilitation. Our rats have become athletes when just weeks before they were completely paralysed. I am talking about 100 per cent recuperation of voluntary movement.
‘The brain established new connections.
‘The cut fibres regrew and established relay connections in the spinal cord which enabled them to pass information from the brain, past the injury in order to restore a voluntary control over the circuitry below the injury.’
The rats could only walk with the chemical and electrical stimulation and scientists would have to devise a safe way of administering these to humans â€" for example through a catheter â€" on a long-term basis.
Experts in the field praised the work, published in the journal Science, as a major medical advance which could offer the best hope yet to paralysed patients.
However they urged caution, pointing out that rats’ nervous systems are not the same as those of humans, and that most spinal injuries involve extensive bruising rather than a neat cut.
After only a few weeks of stimulation, nerve connections begin to grow again - and this could lead to revolutionary medical treatments on humans
Dr Elizabeth Bradbury, of King’s College London, said: ‘This is ground-breaking research and offers great hope for the future of restoring function to spinal-injured patients, however some questions remain before we know how useful this approach may be in humans.’
Dr Mark Bacon, of the organisation Spinal Research, said: ‘It gives enormous hope.
‘In the past it was seen as folly to think we might be able to restore function and I think that’s no longer the case, but it’s about translating these robust effects in animal models to the clinic safely.’
Recent years have seen intense efforts focused on stem cell therapies to help paralysed patients, but these have not yielded any treatments so far.
Last year US researchers helped a 23-year-old paralysed man regain some movement after electrical stimulation, but Dr Bacon said the cocktail of drugs the Swiss team used had offered an additional boost.
Dan Burden of the Spinal Cord Association said: ‘It’s an exciting development but we would issue a word of caution that the neurology [of rats] is considerably different from our own.
‘We are a long way off anything that would resemble a cure in humans, but this is a first step which might well lead to new treatments which could make the future of people with spinal cord injuries seem brighter.’
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What vile people, no wonder they hide away and keep quiet on what their job is. This type of research will not help humans in our lifetime and it is dubious wether it ever will. Why do we insist on harming animals in the name of helping humans? All animals are intelligent some more so than many of the people on here. We have no right to deliberately maim animals, where ids the RSPCA?
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The treatment of those poor rats is disgusting. We should not play god with other creatures' lives. It's a waste of time anyway as animals are not the same as us
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Poor rats :(
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A lot of people are complaining about animal testing for medical purposes. I know it's not nice to see, but do all these people avoid all cosmetic/toiletry products tested on animals, and do they boycott all the other products produced by these companies? Look up the brands owned by the biggest corporations, you will be surprised how diverse they are and how few do not test on animals. And do they only eat free range meat? No cheap chicken, Danish bacon etc.... If you do, fantastic, you're either a better person than me or have more money. If not, surely the possibility of restoring movement to a paralysed firefighter, mother, father, daughter, son or anyone is better than ensuring you have shiny hair or smooth hairless legs?
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Cruel! So very cruel! Pitiful animals
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Let's stop giving money for useless research, the type we see here nearly every day telling us ridiculous things we already know. People like sociologists. Money needs to be given for this kind of research, work that can give paralysed people hope and promise of living life again.
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"rats’ nervous systems are not the same as those of humans"....well then that justifies torturing an innocent animal
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These are amazing developments in science and I'm sure it could benefit lots of people but I can't help but find the use of these rats quite disturbing. Are they breaking their backs in order to do this? Seems quite unethical.
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Rather than continue to use innocent animals for these cruel tests, why not use humans who Have been found guilty of heinous crimes? No animals should have to suffer when there are Countless human monsters who should be made to endure such testing as punishment for their crimes.
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While i marvel at the medical advance for humans..i cry for the poor animals suffering..kat
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