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Biotech / Medical : Neuroscience -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Marty who wrote (174)	2/2/2001 7:21:33 AM
From: Jim Oravetz	Respond to of 278

Paralysis: Maybe It's Not as Permanent as It Seems By Lisa Braun-Kenigsberg Special to The Washington Post Tuesday, January 30, 2001 ; Page HE12 Paralysis from a spinal cord injury was once considered permanent. Now research is prompting new hope for increasing the mobility and bodily functions of disabled people. "We're at a very exciting point in spinal cord research," said Arlene Chiu, a program director at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). NINDS, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, funds most of the spinal cord research currently underway -- a major area of emphasis for the institute, according to Chiu. Researchers are taking a two-pronged approach to the problem: trying first to reduce injury and then to make the best use of what body function is left. Damage control depends on acting quickly after a spinal cord injury occurs. A steroid treatment called methylprednisolone has been shown to be effective in reducing what Chiu calls the "cascade of damage" from tissue trauma if it can be given within three hours of the initial injury. "The more [tissue] you can save and protect, the better the outcome," Chiu said. Several efforts to improve communication between the brain and the body in patients with chronic, or long-standing, spinal cord injury also appear "very promising," according to Chiu. Foremost among these is research into the transplantation of stem cells, which are immature cells, whose bodily function has not yet been determined. The hope is that these might be coaxed into becoming neurons that could replace the body's lost cells and nerve circuitry. "This is the most ambitious but the most promising [research avenue]," says Chiu -- "to fill up the gap with what you've lost." Lesser known experiments and treatments are also generating excitement in the research community. One method, now being tried in some cases of partial paralysis, involves "retraining" the spinal cord through repeated movement. Patients supported by a special harness hung from the ceiling and assisted by a technician "walk" -- or have their legs moved to and fro -- on a treadmill in one such exercise, explained Chiu. In other cases, "neuroprostheses" are undergoing U.S. clinical trials to see if they can directly stimulate muscle response and bypass nonfunctioning neurons. According to William Heetderks, scientific director in repair and plasticity at NINDS, motion sensors implanted in the pectoral muscle area are linked to a small computer box attached to a patient's wheelchair, and from there to a stimulator in the hand muscles. By shrugging his shoulder -- and thus transmitting electrical impulses by wire to the computer -- the patient can trigger the opening and closing of his hand in a grasping motion. Separate trials are being conducted of like devices designed to help patients regain bladder and bowel control. Also under investigation are drug-based therapies designed to stimulate the regrowth of damaged neurons. Since there are many classes of neurons, each class may require a different "cocktail" of drugs, explained Chiu. But despite this approach's complexity, it draws considerable excitement, Chiu says, because new growth factors are being discovered on a monthly basis. Researchers are also looking into cell-based therapies in which special support cells are transplanted to help promote regrowth, by providing a "carpet" on which neurons may grow. Jim