(Reuters) – German researchers have allowed paralyzed mice after spinal cord injuries to walk again, restoring a neural link previously considered irreparable in mammals using a designer protein injected into the brain.
Spinal cord injuries in humans, often caused by sports or traffic accidents, leave them paralyzed because not all nerve fibers that carry information between the muscles and the brain are able to grow back.
But researchers at Ruhr Bochum University have been able to stimulate the nerve cells of paralyzed mice to regenerate using a designer protein.
“The special thing about our study is that the protein is not only used to stimulate those nerve cells that produce it on its own, but is also carried on (through the brain),” team leader Dietmar Fischer told Reuters.
“In this way, with relatively little intervention, we stimulate a very large number of nerves to regenerate and this is ultimately the reason why mice can go again.”
The paralyzed rodents who received the treatment began to work after two to three weeks, he said.
Treatment involves injecting carriers of genetic information into the brain to produce a protein called hyper-interleukin-6, according to the university’s website.
The team is investigating whether the treatment can be improved.
“We also need to see if our method works in larger mammals. We would think of pigs, dogs or primates, for example, “said Fischer.
“Then, if it works there, we should make sure that the therapy is safe for people as well. But that will definitely take many, many years. ”
Reporting by Stephane Nitschke and Zuzanna Szymanska; edited by John Stonestreet