Rats paralyzed by spinal-cord injury can learn to control their hind
limbs again if they are trained to walk in a rehabilitative device while
their lower spine is electrically and chemically stimulated. A clinical
trial using a similar system built for humans could begin in the next
few years.
Researchers in Switzerland used electrical and chemical stimulation
to excite neurons in the lower spinal cord of paralyzed rats while the
rodents were suspended by a vest that forced them to walk using only
their hind legs. The rehabilitative procedure led to the creation of new
neuronal connections between the movement-directing motor cortex of the
brain and the lower spine, the researchers report in Science.
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