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"Embryonic Stem Cells Repair Paralysis in Rats" Chicago Tribune

Washington, D.C. - Scientists have used stem cells and nerve-friendly chemicals to regrow the circuitry needed to move a muscle, helping partially paralyzed rats walk.

Years of additional research is needed before such an experiment could be attempted in people.

But the work marks a new step in stem cell research that promises to one day help repair damage from nerve-destroying illnesses such as Lou Gehrig's disease, or from spinal cord injuries.

"This is an important first step, but it really is a first step, a proof of principle that ... you can rewire part of the nervous system," said Dr. Douglas Kerr, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins University who led the work being published Monday in the journal Annals of Neurology.

The new research details a complex recipe of growth factors and other chemicals that entice the delicate cells to form correctly and make the right connections.

The experiment essentially replaces motor neurons--specialized nerve cells for movement--that have died to make a new circuit that grows neuronal connections out of the spinal cord and down to a leg muscle.

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Originally posted by T.M
Where did they find paralyzed rats...

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Originally posted by botankus
Congrats to whichever political party is supposed to support that theory.

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Originally posted by Adam_PoE

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Originally posted by T.M
Where did they find paralyzed rats...

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Paralyzed rats partially regained the use of a previously immobile hind leg in a study in which scientists injected the rodents with stem cells from mouse embryos, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

The scientists said they combined the transplanted stem cells with a "cocktail" of chemicals to help the paralyzed rats regenerate some of their nerve cells. This allowed a message from the brain to travel to the spinal cord and then to the legs of the paralyzed rats.

Results of the study were published this week in the journal Annals of Neurology.

Before the research began, the rats were given a virus that caused a neurodegenerative disease, paralyzing them.

In the study, 11 of the 15 rats made a partial, but significant, recovery from paralysis, researchers said. The rats recovered enough muscle strength to bear weight and walk on the previously paralyzed hind leg. (Watch as paralyzed rats move -- 1:59)

Although heartened by the findings, the scientists warned that it will be years before such experiments can be tried in humans. The experiment must be reproduced in larger animals first to make sure the nerve connections from the spinal cord to muscles can be made at longer distances. Researchers said the next step is to try the rat experiment in pigs.

Researchers said the new approach could eventually be used to repair nerve damage from degenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Lou Gehrig's disease, or from spinal cord injuries.

"This is proof of the principle that we can recapture what happens in early stages of motor neuron development and use that to repair damaged nervous systems," said Dr. Douglas Kerr, the neurologist who led the Hopkins team.

"With small adjustments keyed to differences in nervous system targets, the approach may also apply to patients with Parkinson's or Huntington's disease," Kerr said.

Scientists outside the university agreed that the findings were a big step forward in embryonic stem cell research.

"It's a remarkable advance that can help us understand how stem cells can begin to fulfill their great promise," said Elias A. Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health. "Demonstrating restoration of function is an important step forward, though we still have a great distance to go."

In a similar rat study seven years ago, Dr. John McDonald, then with the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, got the neurons to survive in the spinal cord and restore some function, but they did not reconnect the nerve to the muscle.

Embryonic stem cells are blank cells that can be turned into basically any type of tissue, but the research is controversial because it involves destroying human embryos to get the cells

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Originally posted by Morgoths_Wrath
"Before the research began, the rats were given a virus that caused a neurodegenerative disease, paralyzing them."


PETA and other animal rights activists are not going to be happy

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Originally posted by The Omega
... wasn't until 1992 that the Catholic Church recalled its ban on Galileo Galilei from the 17th century, thus accepting that the Earth revolves around the Sun...
So sometimes it takes a little... time...

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Originally posted by Morgoths_Wrath
"Before the research began, the rats were given a virus that caused a neurodegenerative disease, paralyzing them."


PETA and other animal rights activists are not going to be happy

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Originally posted by Imperial_Samura
Well better the rats be contributing something to science then getting caught in traps or poisoned. PETA needs to be more practical.