Hi Everyone!
I just found this article in a newsletter I received from the "Life Rolls On" website. I thought someone might benefit from it. Thanks.
Janis Bellino
Mice With SCI Walk Again
For years it was believed that if someone sustained a spinal cord injury (SCI), cellular communication from the brain to other parts of the body would stop at the level of injury. A recent study published by Dr. Michael Sofroniew and his research team at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, however, provides new evidence that this may not be true.
Working with mice, the research team blocked long nerve fibers along different parts of the spinal cord, but left shorter nerve fibers at the center of the spinal cord intact. This resulted in paralysis in the mice, similar to an incomplete spinal cord injury in humans. After eight weeks without further surgery, many of the mice regained the ability to control their legs and, although slower than before, were able to walk.
The researchers concluded that the central nervous system was able to reorganize itself. When original routes for cellular communication along long nerve fibers were obstructed, the central nervous system utilized alternative pathways along the shorter nerve fibers enabling the brain to send signals to the body necessary for movement.
Sofroniew compared his team’s findings to drivers’ reactions when they encounter an accident on the freeway. When faced with an obstruction along their original route, often drivers will exit the highway to take side streets in order to get around the accident. Though this path is less direct and slower than their original route, they are nonetheless able to reach their destination.
"If we can use existing nerve connections instead of attempting to rebuild the nervous system the way it existed before injury, our job of repairing spinal cord damage will become much easier," said Sofroniew.
The researchers hope to eventually identify, grow and connect the key cells that can be utilized to re-route signals from the brain around the injury site. If they are successful, it could result in new opportunities to restore mobility for those with SCI.
For the complete story, visit www.sciencedaily.com.
Citation:
University of California – Los Angeles (2008 January 7) Scientists Restore Walking in Mice After Spinal Cord Injury. Science Daily. Retrieved January 16, 2008 from www.sciencedaily.com)
Photo Courtesy ABC News
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Mice With SCI Walk Again
- By JanisBellino
- Posted March 6, 2008 at 8:48 am · 2 replies
- In Health matters
- Shared with the public
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- By JanisBellino
- Posted May 27, 2009 at 5:04 pm
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It's been a while since I sent in this article, but I'm glad it interested you. Thanks for writing. With the new stem cell policy, I hope that the future (near) holds a lot to be excited about.
- By Learning1
- Posted May 27, 2009 at 4:51 pm
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There are a lot more studies than the one mentioned here, but this is a good reflection of what they are beginning to find. Experiments have been with mice, rats, and other animals. Even going to the extent of cutting the spinal columns, and one even cut out a 5 mm section from the spinal column. And there were varying degrees of success / progress. See some of the information in the section on "LLLT", and in the section on "No para but serious Spinal Cord Injury".
On the human side, depending on the type of SCI, the clinics that use it have had some good progress with their work with stem cells. Not every case I'm sure, but what success does the traditional medical establishment have? Currently at least one of the clinics that works with stem cell therapy limit the type of SCI they work with, probably based on the types they have had the most success with - but the key is that they have made some progress and had some success.
Of course, not in the US or Canada, where the FDA requires oodles of research before anything can be tried, requiring millions of dollars to research any idea, and the drug companies (who have the money) do what they can to hinder anything that is outside what they can patent. For example, when Nixon brought acupuncture back to the US in the early 1970's, the FDA (which has a heavy medical associaton and drug company influence) did everything they could to keep acupuncture needles to research only, did not finally relent and reclassified them until 1996.
A great little book, which provides a starting point for looking at things, is "Alternative Medicine and Spinal Cord Injury" by Laurance Johnson. Johnson was a regular contributor to a magazine called "Paraplegia News", and he has been a director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America Spinal Research and Educational foundations. In his book is a sections on a number of types of alternative treatments that most doctors, because of their training, would never think of recommending. But in the right circumstances, they all have their times when they seem to help more than traditional medicine. For example, pulsed magnetic resonance has, in a short time, at least in some cases, made progress with pressure sores in cases where traditional medicine had made no progress in years.
And with the right key word searches you can find a lot on the internet.
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