Scientists recently used treadmill exercise, drugs, and electrical stimulation to train paralyzed rats to walk once again, demonstrating a way to possibly treat spinal injuries in humans, which at present are basically untreatable.
In a spinal injury, the neural circuits connecting the brain to the muscles that control walking become damaged or severed, leaving an individual paralyzed. In able-bodied people, these “walking circuits” spring into action when they receive a signal from the brain, but if the spinal cord is damaged, the message from the brain never arrives. When contact with the brain is lost, the circuits shut down [The Guardian]. In the study, published in Nature Neuroscience, researchers manipulated these circuits and produced movement that was “almost indistinguishable” from normal walking. See for yourself in the embedded video.
Scientists already knew that if an electrical current is applied to a nerve just below the injury, the muscle will contract, meaning that messages from neurons in the brain aren’t necessarily required to move a muscle. But the act of walking isn’t the result of a single stimulation; it relies on a sequence of precise contractions to move a person (or rat) forward. The researchers mimicked this sequence using a combination of drugs, electrical stimulation and training on a treadmill. The rats, despite having no connection between their brains and their legs, were able to carry their own weight at walking, and even running pace, on a treadmill, with virtually no differences between their gait and the running style of a healthy rat [BBC News]. Well, except for the fact that they are running on their hind legs.
The researchers note that humans and rats have major structural differences in their spines, but they expect this study will lead them to clinical trials in humans within five years. They say that their technique could help a paralyzed person deliver motor control to their legs, however it doesn’t offer a way to control movement with their mind. Instead, a person would rely on a neuroprosthetic device to walk again.
Related Content:
80beats: Robotic Exoskeleton Allows a Paralyzed Man to Walk
80beats: Bionic Monkeys!
DISCOVER: The Rise of the Cyborgs
DISCOVER: Mind Control, a video on mind-controlled prosthetics
Video: Gregoire Courtine et. al.
September 21st, 2009 at 11:30 pm
That rat looked so ridiculous at the end of the video when it was grooming itself while walking. I lol’ed.
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:03 pm
“New Treatment Lets Paralyzed Rats Walk Without Using Their Brains”
If only they had a similar treatment to allow George W Bush able to talk without using his brain.
Wait…I take that back. He did.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Hammster, if you look closely you’ll actually see strings attached to key points on his body. I wouldn’t want to disparage a paralyzed rat by comparing him to a puppet.
How long til this technology is used for erectile disfunction? It might have saved supermans life- and his wifes.
September 27th, 2009 at 5:06 am
I was right there with you Ryan lol’ing
May 14th, 2010 at 2:56 am
its still not enough…walking is feeling every step you take, knowing you took it and were in control and feeling everything like a normal healthy person.