German researchers allowed mice paralyzed after spinal cord injuries to walk again, reestablishing a neural link previously considered irreparable in mammals by using a projected protein injected into the brain.
Spinal cord injuries in humans, often caused by sports or traffic accidents, leave them paralyzed because not all of the nerve fibers that carry information between muscles and the brain are able to grow again.
But researchers at Ruhr University Bochum were able to stimulate the paralyzed mice ‘s nerve cells to regenerate using a projected protein.
“What is special about our study is that the protein is not only used to stimulate the nerve cells that produce it, but it is also transported (through the brain),” said team leader Dietmar Fischer in an interview with Reuters .
“In this way, with a relatively small intervention, we stimulate a large number of nerves to regenerate and that is the reason why mice can walk again.”
The paralyzed rodents who received the treatment started walking after two to three weeks, he said.
The treatment involves injecting genetic information carriers into the brain to produce the protein, called hyperinterleukin-6, according to the university’s website.
The team is investigating whether treatment can be improved.
“We also have to see if our method works on larger mammals. We would think of pigs, dogs or primates, for example, ”said Fischer.
“So, if it works there, we would have to make sure that the therapy is also safe for humans. But it will certainly take many, many years. “