Paralysis Cured (In Rats)

This is HUGE.
I'm surprised this isn't all over the newspapers--so far I've only seen it on the national tv news.
Apparently they have succeeded in curing rats of spinal paralysis with stem cells. They say human trials will begin in 5 years. It doesn't matter to me if they don't occur in the US, which has foolishly crippled itself in terms of this type of research. The fact of the matter is that within 10 years thousadnds, if not miilions of crippled humans--such as the late Christopher Reeve--will start walking again.
They say that it will do the same for victims of Lou Gehrig's Disease, so Steven Hawkins might actually rise from his chair and speak for himself one day, assuming he lives that long.

BGG, where's the link?

Okay, found some:

By Lauran Neergaard
Associated Press
</FONT>[font=arial,helvetica]posted: 21 June 2006
09:56 am ET[/font]

WASHINGTON (AP)—Scientists have used stem cells and a soup of nerve-friendly chemicals to not just bridge a damaged spinal cord but actually regrow the circuitry needed to move a muscle, helping partially paralyzed rats walk. Years of additional research is needed before such an experiment could be attempted in people.

But the work marks a tantalizing new step in stem cell research that promises to one day help repair damage from nerve-destroying illnesses such as Lou Gehrig's disease, or from spinal cord injuries.

"This is an important first step, but it really is a first step, a proof of principle that ... you can rewire part of the nervous system,'' said Dr. Douglas Kerr, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins University who led the work being published Monday in the journal Annals of Neurology.

more at link: http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/ap_060621_rat_nerves.html

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-06-20T003141Z_01_N19363017_RTRUKOC_0_US-SCIENCE-STEMCELLS.xml

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2097203

That's amazing! Did the news story say whether it applied to injured spinal cords, or congenital (birth) defects, or both?

It's too bad that stem cell research has become so politicized, because some of the top scientists in the US won't have anything to do with this kind of research, which has probably slowed down medical progress quite a bit.

jttnewguy said:

That's amazing! Did the news story say whether it applied to injured spinal cords, or congenital (birth) defects, or both?

It's too bad that stem cell research has become so politicized, because some of the top scientists in the US won't have anything to do with this kind of research, which has probably slowed down medical progress quite a bit.

Click to expand...

Slowed it down in the US, maybe. Countries like Japan and Korea are seeing the writing on the wall and are getting a real jump on us in this area.

And, yes, the tv report said the rats had both congenital & induced spinal cord damage.

LinasK said:

BGG, where's the link?

Okay, found some:

By Lauran Neergaard
Associated Press
</FONT>[font=arial,helvetica]posted: 21 June 2006
09:56 am ET[/font]
http://images.livescience.com/template_images/livescience/transpacer.gif
WASHINGTON (AP)—Scientists have used stem cells and a soup of nerve-friendly chemicals to not just bridge a damaged spinal cord but actually regrow the circuitry needed to move a muscle, helping partially paralyzed rats walk. Years of additional research is needed before such an experiment could be attempted in people.

But the work marks a tantalizing new step in stem cell research that promises to one day help repair damage from nerve-destroying illnesses such as Lou Gehrig's disease, or from spinal cord injuries.

"This is an important first step, but it really is a first step, a proof of principle that ... you can rewire part of the nervous system,'' said Dr. Douglas Kerr, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins University who led the work being published Monday in the journal Annals of Neurology.

more at link: http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/ap_060621_rat_nerves.html

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-06-20T003141Z_01_N19363017_RTRUKOC_0_US-SCIENCE-STEMCELLS.xml

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2097203

Click to expand...

All I could find were video reports that didn't have easy links on them.

BillyGoatGruff said:

All I could find were video reports that didn't have easy links on them.

Click to expand...

Have you ever used Google News? Go to their Health page, that's where I found all of my links to the story.

This story may have just broken today, when I checked, the earliest link said 9 hours prior.

I hope that someday there will be a cure for paralysis. I fully support stem cell research. It has the potential to help so many people. I would love to see my dad walk again.

i am with you tennessee! there was a tiny tiny story in my local paper yesterday i believe, kind of like a news brief.

i too support stem cell research!!