Regenerated Nerve Cells Let Rats Walk Again

Posted by timothy on Sunday May 23, 2004 @03:55PM from the then-comes-human-doctor-number-two dept.

SteamyMobile writes "Paralysis by spinal cord injuries through accidents must be one of the most horrible life-altering experiences imaginable, often affecting young, active people, and so far there has been no effective treatment of it. Researchers at the Miami School of Medicine have found a therapy involving regenerating nerve cells to cross the gap in the spinal cord. 70% of rats could walk again after the therapy. Hopefully this could benefit Christopher Reeves and thousands of others who have had their lives changed so much by spinal injuries."

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not to nitpick by trs9000 · 2004-05-23 16:01 · Score: 2, Informative

i dont mean to nitpick but the gentlemans name is Reeve. no 's' on the end.
the site you linked to makes that pretty clear.
Statistics by HalfFlat · 2004-05-23 16:12 · Score: 4, Informative

Just a heads-up on an error in the summary: the Wired articles states than (all) the rats which received the combination treatment regained 70% of their walking function, not that 70% of the injured rats became able to walk.
Given that the improvement was over a period of just eight weeks, this is possibly even more promising than the mangled statistic in the summary.