News Summary: Paralysed rats can walk again

Hi to everyone! I guess all of you are busy studying this week, I include myself :S
Anyway, I'm going to tell you something that I think is interesting:

It's known when people suffer spinal cord injuries is unable to walk and they have to live bound to a wheelchair. It's possible they regain their mobility through a rehabilitation programme being developed by scientists; however, they have found that a combination of drugs, muscle stimulation and treadmill exercises can be used to reawaken 'walking circuits' in the spinal cords of paralysed rats! This treatment was suggested by neurologists at the University of Zurich and California.
In normal people, walking circuits send a signal to the brain through the spinal cord, but if this last one is injured, the signal never reaches the brain and the circuits shut down.
A team of scientists used drugs, known as serotonin agonists, in order to awaken the walking circuits in paralysed rats; then they used a tiny electrodes to stimulate its spinal circuitry.
During the study, rats were subjected to a treadmill treatment for 20 minutes/day. Progressively they were regaining the ability to walk. but still reliant on the electrical stimulation.
It's possible to apply this to humans, but it's required the developing of implantable electrodes to stimulate the walking circuits on spines' pacients.

I think this would be so beneficial for all those people that can't walk, so they can come to their normal lives if they had suffered an accident, don't you think the same thing?

Here I leave you the link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/sep/20/paralysed-rats-walk-rehabilitation

And don't forget to comment, please!