Category Archives: Spinal Cord Injury Treatment

[Credit: EPFL]Here at GeekTech, we've seen lots of contraptions to help the disabled regain some of their mobility. Now, a group of Swiss scientists from the cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL) have found a way to rewire the spinal cord of rats after a paralyzing injury. This rat (pictured above) was just paralyzed a few weeks prior and is now running on a treadmill. The team accomplished this impressive medical feat with an extensive treatment of electro-chemical therapy and training with the help of a robotic harness. The treatment starts with a round of injections that contain a chemical solution of monoamine agonists to rouse the dormant spinal cord nerves. These chemicals are used to replace the neurotransmitters (dopamine, adrenaline, and serotonin receptors) that normally triggered the brainstem. Once the chemicals have excited the spinal cord neurons, the scientists start electrically stimulating the spinal cord with implanted electrodes. This is done to retrain the rats nervous system to use it lower limbs again--it's much like training brain control, but with a physiological component. The rats were first tested on a moving treadmill where they instinctively walked forward with their front legs and previously paralyzed hind limbs. The scientist eventually … Continue reading →

Moving on: Jason Ellery (left), Matthew Pierri and Josh Wood believe they can recover further. Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui Patients with spinal cord injuries are challenging mainstream treatments in their bid to recover use of their paralysed limbs. Quadriplegic Matthew Pierri reports. IN THE early morning of June 17, 2007, I had a nightmare. I was strapped to a bed in a dark room, paralysed below my chest. I struggled in silence until a lady appeared. She sighed and told me to relax, asking me if I knew where I was; if I knew what had happened. I didn't answer, I just tried to wake up. You never forget the moment you realise you're already awake. People in wheelchairs used to scare me. I would always keep clear, secretly afraid that I might catch their illness. I knew nothing about spinal cord injuries or the people who suffered them. Until I had one. Advertisement: Story continues below A football accident left me stranded in a world I didn't understand, or even know existed. A world I want to get out of. Even if I'm told I never will. As far as catastrophic injuries go, there are few worse than those … Continue reading →

By Tamara Cohen PUBLISHED: 13:14 EST, 31 May 2012 | UPDATED: 06:18 EST, 1 June 2012 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. Scroll down for video: 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. Continued here: Paralysed patients may get revolutionary treatment after rats with severed spinal cords taught to sprint again after ... … Continue reading →

NEW YORK Many scientists are working on treatments to help people with spinal cord injuries walk. Now there's a striking new demonstration of how one approach might work: Spinal nerve stimulation helped rats in a Swiss lab overcome paralysis to walk and climb stairs. That may sound impressive, but similar progress has been made in people, too. The difference this time is the particular technique used. It's a natural extension of exciting work that's been done by many groups, said Dr. John McDonald, director of the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. He wasn't involved in the research. In the experiment, reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science, researchers stimulated spinal nerve circuits and used physical training. The stimulation was electrical current from implanted electrodes plus injections of a chemical mix. To do the training, the rats were placed in a harness so that only their hind legs reached the ground. Then they were placed on a treadmill, which produced only reflexive stepping, and on stationary ground, where they had to choose to make their legs move if they wanted to reach a piece of chocolate. They took their first voluntary steps about … Continue reading →

Category: Science & Technology Posted: June 1, 2012 12:08PM Author: Guest_Jim_* One of the most amazing characteristics of the brain is its plasticity. After even some severe traumas, like having a hemisphere removed, the brain can adapt and move functions around to continue functioning. In the past it has appeared that only the brain was plastic because the spinal cord would not adapt in a similar way to injuries. Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL) have changed that though and given rats with severe paralysis the ability to walk again. The first step of the experiment was to 'wake up' the dormant part of the spinal cord found beneath the injury. This was accomplished with a special chemical solution that replaced neurotransmitters normally released by the brainstem in order to stimulate dormant neurons. Next the researchers used electrodes to stimulate the spinal cord further, making it ready to operate. The brain is not the only controller in the nervous system. Other networks of neurons, including the spinal cord, are able to respond to external stimuli, which is what causes involuntary motions. The researchers placed the rats on a treadmill and discovered it could walk. The spinal cord was … Continue reading →

Step toward cure: A treatment which has allowed paralysed rats to walk again could be developed to help human victims of spinal injury. Source: Supplied IT WAS one small step for a rat, but it may be one giant leap for mankind. Rats paralysed by spinal injuries have learned to walk, and run, again after groundbreaking treatment which awakens the spinal brain and helps the spine to repair itself. Australian experts yesterday hailed the successful research as bringing science to the edge of a truly profound advance in modern medicine by allowing paralysed people to walk again. Swiss scientists who have spent five years investigating how the brain and spine can adapt to injury, injected a chemical solution into the rats which stimulated neurons in their spines. The cocktail of drugs, aided by electrical stimulation, strengthened the signals normally sent by the brain down the spinal cord in healthy rats, and when the tests rats, which had severely damaged, but not completely severed, spinal cords, were placed in special harnesses, they could walk. After a couple of weeks of neurorehabilitation with a combination of a robotic harness and electrical-chemical stimulation, our rats are not only voluntarily initiating a walking gait, … Continue reading →

After severe spinal cord damage, paralyzed rats are able to walk again with the help of a robot to hold them up and stimulate their nerves, a new study shows. After the rats are trained on the machine for about two months, they gained the ability to control their hind legs -- which had previously been cut off from communicating with the brain -- with enough dexterity to climb stairs and navigate around objects. This control means that the brain has forged new connections to get around the spinal cord injury. NEWS: Bionic Suit Helps Paralyzed Woman Complete Marathon "We expected they would recover to some degree, but the extent was amazing. They were able to avoid obstacles and walk up stairs," study researcher Janine Heutschi, of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland, told LiveScience. "Not only that, but the consistency was really amazing. Every single animal we trained in this robot was able to perform these tasks." What this means for humans is unclear, but the team is working to adapt the procedure for clinical trials. Paralyzed Rats The researchers simulated spinal cord damage in the rats by making two cuts halfway through the spinal cord; the … Continue reading →

NEW YORK Many scientists are working on treatments to help people with spinal cord injuries walk. Now there's a striking new demonstration of how one approach might work: Spinal nerve stimulation helped rats in a Swiss lab overcome paralysis to walk and climb stairs. That may sound impressive, but similar progress has been made in people, too. The difference this time is the particular technique used. "It's a natural extension of exciting work that's been done by many groups," said Dr. John McDonald, director of the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. He wasn't involved in the research. In the new experiment, reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science, researchers stimulated spinal nerve circuits and used physical training. The stimulation was electrical current from implanted electrodes plus injections of a chemical mix. To do the training, the rats were placed in a harness so that only their hind legs reached the ground. Then they were placed on a treadmill, which produced only reflexive stepping, and on stationary ground, where they had to choose to make their legs move if they wanted to reach a piece of chocolate. They took their first voluntary steps … Continue reading →

May 31, 2012 2:53pm Paralyzed rats could walk again after scientists in Switzerland treated their injured spinal cordsthrough a combination of chemical, electrical and physical stimulation. Gregoire Courtine, the studys lead author, said the techniquewould not completely cure a spinal cord injury, but the study gave scientists an idea of how they could combine therapies, each of which have been orare beingtested in humans. This kind of approach will not make miracles, said Gregoire Courtine, the studys lead author, but its interesting because it offers new therapeutic avenues for these very traumatic injuries. First, the researchers injected the injured rats with chemicals designed to mimic the bodys own cocktail of signals that coordinate movement of the lower body. Five to 10 minutes after the injection, the researchers sent electrical impulses to tiny electrodes placed in the narrow space between the bones of the spine and the nerves of the spinal cord, stokingthe spinal cords ability to come back after an injury, a quality scientists call neuroplasticity. The findings were published today in the journal Science. After a few weeks of the combination of chemicals and electricity, 10 rats were trained to use their paralyzed hind legs with the help of … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (May 31, 2012) Rats with spinal cord injuries and severe paralysis are now walking (and running) thanks to researchers at EPFL. Published in the June 1, 2012 issue of Science, the results show that a severed section of the spinal cord can make a comeback when its own innate intelligence and regenerative capacity is awakened. The study, begun five years ago at the University of Zurich, points to a profound change in our understanding of the central nervous system. According to lead author Grgoire Courtine, it is yet unclear if similar rehabilitation techniques could work for humans, but the observed nerve growth hints at new methods for treating paralysis. "After a couple of weeks of neurorehabilitation with a combination of a robotic harness and electrical-chemical stimulation, our rats are not only voluntarily initiating a walking gait, but they are soon sprinting, climbing up stairs and avoiding obstacles when stimulated," explains Courtine, who holds the International Paraplegic Foundation (IRP) Chair in Spinal Cord Repair at EPFL. Waking up the spinal cord It is well known that the brain and spinal cord can adapt and recover from moderate injury, a quality known as neuroplasticity. But until now the spinal cord expressed … Continue reading →