Two to three weeks after treatment, the previously paralyzed mice began to walk. Credit: Lehrstuhl für Zellphysiologie
German researchers have enabled mice paralysed after spinal cord injuries to walk again, by injection carriers of genetic information into brain to produce protein, called
hyper-interleukin-6.
Till now it was believed that re-establishing neural link is not not possible in case of spinal cord injury . Spinal cord injuries in humans, often caused by sports or traffic accidents, leave them paralysed because not all of the nerve fibres that carry information between muscles and the brain are able to grow back.
"In this way, with a relatively small intervention, we stimulate a very large number of nerves to regenerate and that is ultimately the reason why the mice can walk again." According to the university website.
Now we have to see whether such method works in larger mammals including human.