La Ratas Que Caminan Después De Ser Inmóviles

Paralyzed rats ‘learn to walk’
Paralyzed rats have been able to walk again after their spinal cord were bathed in chemicals and zapped with electricity, scientists have shown.
An injury to thespinal cord stops the brain controlling the body.
The study, in the journal science, showed injured rats could even learn to sprint with spinal stimulation.
Experts said it was an “exceptional study”and that restoring function after paralysis “can no longer be dismissed as a pipedream”.
In 2011, a man from Oregon in the US was able to stand up again while his spinal cord was stimulated withelectricity. Rob summers had been paralyzed from the chest down after being hit by a car.
Now researchers at the Swiss federal institute of technology say they have restored far more movement in ratswhich became able to rum and climb stairs.
The spinal cord of the rats was cut in two places. It meant messages could not travel from the brain to the legs, but the spinal cord was still in one piece.The researchers then tried to repair the damage. In an advance from the rob summers study, the spinal cord first injected whit chemicals to stimulate the nerves in the spine. The base of the spinalcord was then electrically stimulated as well. The scientists say they were reawakening the “spinal brain”.
However, this was not sufficient to restore movement. The rats were supported in a roboticharness and were shown a treat which they needed to “learn” to walk towards.
The lead researcher, Prof Gregoire Courtine, said: “over time the animal regains the capacity to perform one, two steps,then a long run and eventually we again the capacity sprint over ground, climb stairs and even pass obstacles.
He told the BBC: “it is completely unexpected to see this recovery; they walk and climbstairs voluntarily”.
The scientists showed that new nerves were forming across the injury and there were also changes in the brain.
This is not, however, a cure for spinal cord injuries in...