rats walking-new study ucla,zurich

• By luminita
• Posted September 27, 2009 at 10:54 am
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jerr,l've seen that new here,in romania,on tv.but l don't know if will be the cure for us or not.there are sooooo many trials for this kind of experiments,but no results.l made a stem cells implant in china in 2007 and l have no changes......nothing.but l still pray for a cure.
keep hoping

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• By LMClare
• Posted September 27, 2009 at 11:05 am
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Jerry, I believe this IS going to be the thing that will help you and many others with paralysis. I live here in the USA, and have been an advocate for the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation for the past 4 1/2 years now. My daughter is SCI T4 ASIA and has great upper body strength as well.

Stem Cell Research is a wonderful idea and I also believe that things will happen here in the USA with regards to that becoming a viable cure, but unfortunately, it is going to take time to move their experiments to the human level. The best thing about the whole stem cell thing in the USA is that it will be FDA approved. For those who have gone to other countries and spent all of their savings to have no results is just sad. I know that everyone is desperate to find a cure, but if you just have patience......it will be here and it will be safe!

Back to the scientific breakthrough that you mentioned though. I'm VERY excited about this, as it has been very successful in rats and the scientists will be pushing to move this into monkeys and then humans much quicker than the stem cell trials. The medicine and electrical stimulation is already proven to not have terrible side effects, so if they can get results this way......they'll be working harder on bringing this to the paralysis community quickly!

All I can say Jerry, is don't give up your hope. A cure is coming, it's just that we don't know when or how exactly yet.

Have a wonderful day! Lisa ;-)

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• By prioremt1
• Posted September 27, 2009 at 11:43 am
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I saw it! And can't wait for the clinical trials. My son is T3 and has great upper body strength so we are very hopeful. He was injured in May of 08. The best thing is that this is "old stuff" combined so it should move pretty quickly. Not soon enough! Keep your fingers crossed and keep praying.

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• By Learning1
• Posted September 27, 2009 at 4:36 pm
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The UCLA experiments seem to offer another possible approach, one which (if I'm reading the report right) is apart from re-connecting the nerves. If so, it might help people with lower injuries (who have hand and arm movement), and would do this by injecting neurotrasmitters, then applying electrical stimulation below the injury point. Without the electrical simulation the rats are still not able to walk. For those with lower injuries, it would be at least an interim measure which might help build leg strength, and add a lot of mobility, and should reduce the potential for pressure sores (all of which would be a big benefit), even though it would not be the same as regular walking. Maybe one step closer, but the key still seems to be somehow finding a consistent key to spinal cord regeneration, then getting it so it is more than just exerimental in nature - something so it works for all, not just helping a few. As Luminita mentioned, she tried stem cells and no changes, and I understand that many are in the same position. There has to be some key to overcoming the scar tissue, and overcoming the body's defence mechanisms which prevent new cell growth in the spinal column (I say new cell growth because, in recent years, they have discovered that the body naturally replaces cells in the spinal column as they get old and die out (more slowly than the body's replacement of other cells, but replacement otherwise. It is a slow process, and it sounds like only existing cells are replaced, so cells that were injured / damaged in the spinal cord injury, and which are subsequently removed by the body's clean-up system, don't seem to have a chance of replacement in that process. Something has to be stimulated beyond normal replacement. Laser experiments, like those of Dr. Anders, and like the laserponcture.com clinic in France, and some of the laser experiments in Israel, seem to hold some hope, but little seems to be released about that research now, possibly because of people trying to hold onto and patent any ideas they come up with. Details of what and how they are trying, and the relative effeciveness of each thing tried, doesn't seem to be out there, though the research must still be continuing.

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• By Patricia7
• Posted September 28, 2009 at 11:04 am
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I got the same email from the Reeve's folks... It is old stuff mixed together.

I do think that headlines need to be clearer and that they need to have a video of a rat with a severed cord walking on the ground without a harness and treadmill just wearing the electrical device and carrying on functionally .

The trials in Cleveland have been using electrical stim both externally and internally for ambulation for a long time. When I looked into it for California they have stopped using this for quite some time as the amount of electricity and the functional energy expenditure never made it functional. Also for those with any residual pain sensation found the electrical stim too painful and uncomfortable. So the new component is the medical introduction in combination. Perhaps this is why not much is made of the breakthrough at this time.

I hope for everyone that something functionally friendly comes along soon...

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