Brain Implants Allow Paralyzed Monkeys To Walk (nature.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Nature: For more than a decade, neuroscientist Gregoire Courtine has been flying every few months from his lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne to another lab in Beijing, China, where he conducts research on monkeys with the aim of treating spinal-cord injuries. The commute is exhausting -- on occasion he has even flown to Beijing, done experiments, and returned the same night. But it is worth it, says Courtine, because working with monkeys in China is less burdened by regulation than it is in Europe and the United States. And this week, he and his team report the results of experiments in Beijing, in which a wireless brain implant -- that stimulates electrodes in the leg by recreating signals recorded from the brain -- has enabled monkeys with spinal-cord injuries to walk. The treatment is a potential boon for immobile patients: Courtine has already started a trial in Switzerland, using a pared-down version of the technology in two people with spinal-cord injury. The team first mapped how electric signals are sent from the brain to leg muscles in healthy monkeys, walking on a treadmill. They also examined the lower spine, where electric signals from the brain arrive before being transmitted to muscles in the legs. Then they recreated those signals in monkeys with severed spinal cords, focusing on particular key points in the lower part of the spine. Microelectrode arrays implanted in the brain of the paralyzed monkeys picked up and decoded the signals that had earlier been associated with leg movement. Those signals were sent wirelessly to devices that generate electric pulses in the lower spine, which triggered muscles in the monkeys' legs into motion.

Comments

Cute sciencey talk

[LesFerg]

... monkeys with spinal-cord injuries ...

Meaning: monkeys with spinal-cords we have slashed and butchered

Re: Cute sciencey talk

[Anonymous Coward]

Car accidents at the circus?

Score one for research using monkeys.

[CrimsonAvenger]

Assuming this can be ported to humans, it's the beginning of something huge.

Mind-bogglingly huge, in fact. Since it should be usable for arms, hands, and such as well....

Re:Score one for research using monkeys.

[scratchy_king]

I've had a chance to be involved in the technical setup of the clinical trial. It is truly fascinating to see the system at work. It will be 8 patients in total by mid-2018, so we'll have to wait until then to see if it truly works.

Restoring walking is a first step because it is also easiest to begin with because walking is largely based on reflexes. These reflex networks are typically preserved after spinal cord injury, but the person is no longer able to activate them voluntarily, thus losing the ability to walk. With electrical stimulation and an extensive rehabilitation program, the aim is that the person regains some of this voluntary control.

Restoring arms and hands function will be the next step. Tasks involving these limbs however, require fine motor control and are less reliant on reflexes. This means that remnant reflexes cannot be exploited and relearning tasks will be much harder (if not impossible...).

My hope is still that one day we can have a paralyzed patient compete in the cybathlon exoskeleton race but with the implanted electrical stimulator instead of an actual exoskeleton.

Better secure that...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

So, what are the options for tinkering with the signal before passing it on?

Remote control meat puppet? Real-world RealPlayer experience, with all your attempts at motion suffering from unpredictable stuttering and buffering? The possibilities for creative signal processing are endless!

Pro Tip: Don't be a monkey in China.

[fahrbot-bot]

... because working with monkeys in China is less burdened by regulation than it is in Europe and the United States ...

Probably applies to people too.

Finally...

[110010001000]

Finally a story about Donald Trump!

Poor monkeys

[Anonymous Coward]

I hate all animal testing. This kind of work should be done on volunteer humans with nothing to lose.

Re:Poor monkeys

[Duhavid]

Thought experiment:

Very advanced aliens come to earth.  ( they got lost ( not very advanced, eh? ), wrong turn at Aldebaran )
They are ( i would not argue ethically, but ) advanced beyond us.  Lets concentrate on the power/technology aspect of this.
They have power to dominate us as individuals and as a civilization.  And they live about 1000 years, so our ~100 year span is "brief" to them.
They are biologically similar to us, so the things that go wrong in us also go wrong in them.
So, they decide that we make good test subjects for research into various research topics ( regrowing limbs, how long can the brain live without a body, without sensory input, hair loss, etc ).

They land here, and pick *you* for something that will benefit them tremendously, but will require things be done to your person.
It may be painful, but they will have some pity for your state, and pump you up on painkillers where this does not harm the experiment.
Your mental state will not be considered.  Addicted is OK for them, you are a test subject.
Your connections to fellow human beings will not be considered, unless that is part of the test, and staying with your loved ones is very unlikely.
You will also be put down painlessly at the conclusion of their test, even if the test is a success.
You will, in no case, receive any benefits of this research, nor will humanity as a whole.
Your body will be disposed of after, probably as food for other experiments.

Has the ethical landscape changed for you?
If you say "no", I ask "really?"

Re:Talk talk talk

[Anonymous Coward]

The first thing they would say is "thanks for severing my spinal cord you fucking assholes!"