Rat face closeup on black background

 

Swiss researchers have enabled rats with severe spinal cord injuries to walk and swim by electrically stimulating a group of neurons located deep in the brain. The discovery may give researchers a new approach to treating severe spinal cord injury. The research, led by Lukas Bachmann at the Brain Research Institute at the University of Zurich, was published today in Science Translational Medicine.

In most spinal cord injuries, some nerve fibers connecting the brain to the spinal cord below the injury site remain intact, even in severe cases in which a person is paralyzed. Bachmann and his colleagues found that by stimulating a key region of the midbrain called the mesencephalic locomotor region, or MLR, the remaining intact nerve fibers could be recruited to improve walking and swimming movements in spinal-cord injured rats. [Read More]