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University of Louisville neuroscientists hope to get people walking again
October 02, 2009Neuroscience researchers at the University of Louisville will be the only team collaborating with an international group of scientists that last week announced they had enabled paralyzed rats to walk while supporting their own weight.
Dr. Susan Harkema, the University of Louisville's Owsley Brown Frazier Chair in Neurological Rehabilitation, rehabilitation director at the university's Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (KSCIRC) and the director of research at Frazier Rehab Institute, is evaluating how to translate into humans the success accomplished in the animals.
"We have been collaborating with this particular group of researchers for a number of years," Harkema said. "The results they have shown are very exciting and we look forward to determining how to take their animal findings and move it into applications for humans."
The research team at UCLA found that a combination of drugs, electrical stimulation and regular exercise was enough to allow the rats to walk. One of the key things demonstrated is that regeneration of severed nerve fibers is not required for the animals to learn to walk again.
"Spine cells in mammals generate a current that helps make muscles and parts of the body move. If we can find ways to harness that current and stimulate appropriate areas with electrical stimulation to enhance that current, we may be able to help people who have complete spinal cord injuries stand and walk on their own," Harkema said.
Statistics from the University of Alabama National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center show that approximately 250,000 Americans are spinal cord injured. Fifty two percent of spinal cord injured individuals are considered paraplegic and 47% quadriplegic. Approximately 11,000 new injuries occur each year. Fifty-six percent of injuries occur between the ages of 16 and 30. The average age of a spinal cord injured person is 31.
University of Louisville Health Sciences Center
The research team at UCLA found that a combination of drugs, electrical stimulation and regular exercise was enough to allow the rats to walk. One of the key things demonstrated is that regeneration of severed nerve fibers is not required for the animals to learn to walk again.
"Spine cells in mammals generate a current that helps make muscles and parts of the body move. If we can find ways to harness that current and stimulate appropriate areas with electrical stimulation to enhance that current, we may be able to help people who have complete spinal cord injuries stand and walk on their own," Harkema said.
Statistics from the University of Alabama National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center show that approximately 250,000 Americans are spinal cord injured. Fifty two percent of spinal cord injured individuals are considered paraplegic and 47% quadriplegic. Approximately 11,000 new injuries occur each year. Fifty-six percent of injuries occur between the ages of 16 and 30. The average age of a spinal cord injured person is 31.
University of Louisville Health Sciences Center
Spinal Cord Injury Current Events and Spinal Cord Injury News RSSUCI embryonic stem cell therapy restores walking ability in rats with neck injuries
The first human embryonic stem cell treatment approved by the FDA for human testing has been shown to restore limb function in rats with neck spinal cord injuries - a finding that could expand the clinical trial to include people with cervical damage.
Findings show nanomedicine promising for treating spinal cord injuries
Researchers at Purdue University have discovered a new approach for repairing damaged nerve fibers in spinal cord injuries using nano-spheres that could be injected into the blood shortly after an accident.
Researchers explore new ways to prevent spinal cord damage using a vitamin B3 precursor
Substances naturally produced by the human body may one day help prevent paralysis following a spinal cord injury, according to researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College. A recent $2.5 million grant from the New York State Spinal Cord Injury Research Board will fund their research investigating this possibility.
Master regulator found for regenerating nerve fibers in live animals
Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston report that an enzyme known as Mst3b, previously identified in their lab, is essential for regenerating damaged axons (nerve fibers) in a live animal model, in both the peripheral and central nervous systems.
Researchers find ways to encourage spinal cord regeneration after injury
Animal research is suggesting new ways to aid recovery after spinal cord injury. New studies demonstrate that diet affects recovery rate and show how to make stem cell therapies safer for spinal injury patients.
UCLA scientists make paralyzed rats walk again after spinal-cord injury
UCLA researchers have discovered that a combination of drugs, electrical stimulation and regular exercise can enable paralyzed rats to walk and even run again while supporting their full weight on a treadmill.
arrow researcher finds natural hydrogel helps heal spinal cord
Research led by a scientist at the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center has shown injecting biomaterial gel into a spinal cord injury site provides significantly improved healing.
UCSF researchers program cells to be remote-controlled by light
UCSF researchers have genetically encoded mouse cells to respond to light, creating cells that can be trained to follow a light beam or stop on command like microscopic robots.
Flips, flops and cartwheels
Geckos and other lizards have long been known for their incredible ability to shed their tails as a decoy for predators, but little is known about the movements and what controls the tail once it separates from the lizard's body.
ADA publishes practice guidelines for nutrition care for patients with spinal cord injury
The American Dietetic Association has published new evidence-based nutrition practice guidelines for registered dietitians on nutrition care for patients with spinal cord injury.
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