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In a breakthrough new study, scientists in England have actually healed paralysis in dogs, after injecting them with cell they grew from the inner lining of their nose. For this experiment, 34 dogs with hind leg paralysis were brought in, all suffering from spinal injuries. It is known in biology, that the only part of the body where nerves continue to grow in adults - is the nerves we use to smell with.
These nerves need constant replacement which is why they are perfect to be used to replace other broken cells, like those in the spine of paralysed people. of the 34 dogs, 23 had these cells implanted in their spine, and 11 did not. This is where it gets exciting - Most of the dogs that got the treatment regained use of hind legs! Watch the video to see how it looks when little Jasper gets to walk again!
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Professor Robin Franklin, a regeneration biologist at the Wellcome Trust-MRC Stem Cell Institute and report co-author, said: 'Our findings are extremely exciting because they show for the first time that transplanting these types of cell into a severely damaged spinal cord can bring about significant improvement' Prof Franklin also added that the procedure might be used in combination with drug treatments to help nerve fibre regeneration and bioengineering to substitute damaged neural networks. In other words, we may have hit on a possible technique to cure spinal injuries, but there is still a lot of checking to do before scientists will feel it's safe to test on humans. That said, it is another glimmer of hope for those paralysed who hope to one day get up from that chair and walk again. We do hope they will. |
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