German scientists make paralyzed mice walk again
Scientists have made paralyzed mice walk again
by using a designer protein injected into the brain
CELL BIOLOGIST, MARCO LEIBINGER
"This mouse can actually walk again. We didn't expect that at all back then. We had to check the mice every day. I had taken them out, had them on the hand and suddenly I saw that the two of them were moving very, very strongly. And that actually surprised me. And then I put them on the table and saw that they could actually walk again"
The rodents that received the treatment
started walking after two to three weeks
Scientists hope the experiment
could help treat spinal cord injuries in humans
LEADING SCIENTIST, DR. DIETMAR FISCHER
"In general, results or treatments that you develop in mice can normally not one to one be transferred to human beings. So there is still a lot of work ahead of us that needs to be done. And so right now, we cannot guarantee that it works in humans. But what we did is we at least showed that in principle, functional regeneration can occur after complete spinal cord injury. And I think that's certainly very nice and something we are very happy about."
