WASHINGTON - 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 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 today in the journal Annals of Neurology.
Perhaps most importantly, the experiment illustrates that if stem cells eventually live up to their promise, treatment won't be simple.
Instead, the new research details a complex recipe of growth factors and other chemicals that entice the delicate cells to form correctly and make the right connections.
Miss a single ingredient, and the cells wander aimlessly, unable to reach the muscle and make it move.
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