Paralysed rats are helped to walk again using a REMOTE CONTROL: Scientists use electric signals to stimulate spinal nerves
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Remote-controlled rats have been created by scientists who took over the walking ability of paralysed animals using electrical implants.
The rats used in the study were paralysed by having their spinal cords severed in the middle back, which prevented brain signals reaching the lower spinal cord.
But, sending an electric current into spinal nerves via surgical implants enabled them to walk while held upright on a treadmill.
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The rats used in the study were paralysed by having their spinal cords severed in the middle back, which prevented brain signals reaching the lower spinal cord. But, sending an electric current into spinal nerves via surgical implants enabled them to walk while held upright on a treadmill (pictured)
The research could lead to rehabilitative therapies that may help partially paralysed human patients with spinal injuries walk more naturally.
During the experiments, movements were controlled by altering the electrical signal.
Treated animals walked over one thousand successive steps without failure, and negotiated stairs of various heights and lengths.
Lead researcher Dr Gregoire Courtine, from Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, said: 'We have complete control of the rat's hind legs.
'The rat has no voluntary control of its limbs, but the severed spinal cord can be reactivated and stimulated to perform natural walking.
'We can control in real-time how the rat moves forward and how high it lifts its legs.'
The research is part of a European project called NEUWalk that aims to test the epidural electrical stimulation (EES) technology in human patients as early as next summer.
Scientists have designed the Gait Platform - a human-sized version of the apparatus used to study walking in the rats - for clinical trials.
It consists of a treadmill and overground support system with infrared cameras to detect reflective markers on the patient's body.
The animals walked over one thousand successive steps without failure, and negotiated stairs of various heights and lengths. This chart reveals the range of movement, as seen from a computer that was controlling the rats remotely. But the research has been condemned by British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV)
The new research is reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Co-author Dr Silvestro Micera, also from the EPFL, said: 'Simple scientific discoveries about how the nervous system works can be exploited to develop more effective neuroprosthetic technologies.
'We believe that this technology could one day significantly improve the quality of life of people confronted with neurological disorders.'
However, the research was condemned by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV).
Science advisor Dr Jarrod Bailey said: 'The rats used in the experiments will have suffered greatly, and the public would not support this research based on this suffering alone.
'Enduring paralysis would be terrifying for the animals, and the invasive surgery on their spinal cords and brains would have caused real - and unnecessary - suffering.'
Inducing paralysis in animals does not model the long-term effects of spinal cord injury in humans in any useful way, he argued.
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