European researchers said on Thursday that they have found a way to motivate paralysed rats to learn to walk again through a combination of spinal cord stimulation and robotic-aided therapy.
The key to the method’s success was how it engaged the rats to participate in their own rehabilitation, said Gregoire Courtine, lead author of the study published in the US journal Science.
“In the beginning... The animal is struggling and it is really difficult,” said Courtine, chair of the International Paraplegic Foundation in Spinal Cord Repair at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland.
“Then the first time it happens, the animal is surprised. It looks at you like, ‘Wow. I walked!‘”
The rats also showed a massive three-fold increase in the connections between the brain and spinal cord after training, according to the research.
“The motor cortex developed new pathways to regain control of the area below the injury. This was really fascinating to see,” Courtine said.
“What we observed was this extensive reorganisation of the central nervous system not only at the level of the injury but throughout the brain, brain stem and spinal cord.”
The therapy combines an electrical-chemical stimulation of the spinal cord, mimicking the signals the brain would normally send to initiate movement in the limbs, and a rehabilitation device that helps the rats stay upright.