A mechanism that enables spinal cord injury patients to walk again by giving electrical stimulation was found, and the function of nerve cells in the lumbar spinal cord is essential
A Swiss research group has announced that it has discovered a previously undiscovered tissue necessary for recovery after
The neurons that restore walking after paralysis | Nature
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05385-7
People With Complete Paralysis Walk Again After Nerve Stimulation Breakthrough : ScienceAlert
Nerve cells necessary for walking are present in the spinal cord, and when the spinal cord is damaged, signals from the brain are blocked and walking becomes impossible. As a result, it can lead to permanent paralysis of the foot, even if the foot is healthy.
Previous studies have shown that paralysis can be restored by electrically stimulating the spinal cord, but the mechanism has not been clarified. Therefore, Claudia Cathy , a neuroscientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), and others have applied a technique called epidural electrical stimulation, which provides electrical stimulation to the part called the ``dura mater'' of the spinal cord, to treat severe spinal cord injury. validated in 9 patients and mice who received
After the patients continued stimulation and rehabilitation 4 to 5 times a week for 5 months, all of them were able to walk with the help of a walker.
In addition, the recovered patients were said to have decreased neural activity in the lumbar spinal cord during walking. Therefore, Kathy et al. verified this process in mice and grasped which cells are doing what kind of work. As a result, it was found that a previously unknown neuronal population exists in the middle layer of the lumbar spinal cord. The image below is a visualization of a stimulated neuron.
Although this tissue is apparently dispensable for locomotion in healthy animals, it is essential for locomotion recovery after spinal cord injury, and disruption of this tissue impeded recovery in mice. This tissue is also believed to transmit information from the brainstem to the nerves that lead to actual walking.
You can check the details of the tissue discovered by the research group and how a patient who had difficulty walking due to spinal cord injury actually walks by watching the following movie.
Scientists identify neurons that restore walking after paralysis-YouTube
Kathy et al. stated that this discovery was ``only one factor in cell signaling, and there are several things that have not yet been elucidated.'' However, ``this discovery will eventually lead to more treatment options, It may be possible to provide a better quality of life for people with spinal cord injuries.”
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