"
<http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=gsJRK4OMIkLQJcJ&s=ivLYI9NTKiIRJ7NSKtE&m=mjIQK6NQLjL5H>Reeve
Foundation supported scientists at UCLA and the University of Zurich
have been able to make rats with completely transected spinal cords
recover to the point that they can step and fully support their own
weight. This is a first!
Rats in the study had completely severed spinal cords. They underwent
a three-part intervention. Scientists gave the rats a combination of
the drug quipazine, and then epidural electrical stimulation. This
treatment activates the spinal cord's neural circuitry and makes it
functional again. Then the rats were given locomotor training.
The combination proved extremely effective. Within a relatively short
period of time, the rats were walking again. The voluntary stepping
of the rats on a treadmill was almost indistinguishable from their
stepping prior to their spinal cord injury."
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- [TMIC] RATS WALK AGAIN! Akua
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