Antibody treatment leads to motion recovery after paralysis

Kyoto: Spinal cord injury, or SCI, damages motor function and frequently leaves the patient paralyzed. A major reason is that the body cannot regenerate the lost neural connections. In a report in Cerebral Cortex, Kyoto University researchers report that treatment with an antibody for repulsive guidance molecule-a (RGMa) leads to recovered motor function in rhesus monkeys that had experienced SCI, suggesting that a similar antibody treatment could benefit humans.

Implant lets paralysed monkeys walk again

Scimex: A new device that restores movement of a paralysed leg in monkeys as early as six days after spinal cord injury is reported in a paper published in Nature this week. The implantable, wireless brain–spine interface uses components that have been approved for research in humans, and is a step towards clinical trials to test the efficacy of this approach in people with paraplegia.

'Bionic' spinal implant helped paralysed rats walk

NHS. UK: "Elastic implant 'restores movement' in paralysed rats," BBC News reports after researchers developed an implant that can be used to treat damaged spinal cords in rats. The spinal cord, which is present in all mammals, is a bundle of nerves that runs from the brain through the spine, before branching off to different parts of the body.

Neuroprosthetics for paralysis: an new implant on the spinal cord

Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne. Switzerland: New therapies are on the horizon for individuals paralyzed following spinal cord injury. The e-Dura implant developed by EPFL scientists can be applied directly to the spinal cord without causing damage and inflammation. The device is described in an article appearing online January 8, 2015, in Science.

Drug found to help repair spinal cord injuries

NHS: A new drug could help people with spinal cord injuries, from a study in rats.
This hope is due to the possibility of developing a new drug based on a molecule called intracellular sigma peptide. The drug helped restore varying degrees of nerve functions in rats that had spinal cord injuries.