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A study published in the June issue of Nature Neuroscience reveals just how far scientists have come in understanding, and possibly someday correcting, |spinal cord| injuries.
Martin Schwab, of the Institute for Brain Research at the University of Zurich in Sweden, and his colleagues took rats and cut the nerve fibers in the rats’ brain stem. This operation effectively removed the ability of the rats to exercise fine motor control of their front limbs, making it impossible for them to climb ropes or grasp food pellets.
Then the researchers injected the rats with a specially engineered antibody called IN-1. Those rats receiving IN-1 grew new nerve fibers that took over for the damaged fibers. Both rats and human beings produce growth inhibitors which usually prevent new fibers from growing. The Zurich researchers hope the things they have learned in neutralizing these inhibitors in rats will help them to find a way to neutralize them in human beings.
"This study re-emphasizes the role of the non-injured nervous system in compensating for the loss of function after damage," said Michael Beattie, a neuroscience professor at Ohio State University who specializes in spinal cord injury. "The work they’ve done suggests that they’re on the right track to understanding how to produce therapies that can enhance repair and recovery of function."
Source:
Jane E. Allen "New hope for repairing spinal injuries" Associated Press, May 18, 1998.