In a new study in mice, a team of researchers from UCLA, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and Harvard University have uncovered a crucial component for restoring functional activity after spinal cord injury. The neuroscientists have shown that re-growing specific neurons back to their natural target regions led to recovery, while random regrowth was not effective.

Scientists regenerate neurons that restore walking in mice after paralysis from spinal cord injury::In a new study in mice, a team of researchers from UCLA, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and Harvard University have uncovered a crucial component for restoring functional activity after spinal cord injury. The neuroscientists have shown that re-growing specific neurons back to their natural target regions led to recovery, while random regrowth was not effective.

  • cooopsspaceEnglish
    461·
    9 months ago

    Insurance: Nah we aren’t gonna cover it. And for some reason our economical opinion trumps your own doctors medical opinion.

    • SARGEx117@lemmy.worldEnglish
      142·
      9 months ago

      "Yeahhhhhh here’s the thing, a wheelchair costs fifty dollars, while the revolutionary treatment that will give you full use back is fifty ONE dollars…

      So you see, there really is only one sensible option…" -every insurance company everywhere even if the prices were literal

      • cooopsspaceEnglish
        7·
        9 months ago

        But but… If I can get back to work I can make the $1 whilst also getting back into the workforce and by extention the tax base providing a lifetime of benefit to the public and keep my family out of poverty…

        Denied.

  • figaro@lemdro.id
    English
    292·
    9 months ago

    What I’ve learned this means in practical terms is, “Wow! We are really good at healing mice!”

    • surewhynotlem@lemmy.worldEnglish
      20·
      9 months ago

      Monkeys are the next step.

      Well, probably dogs or cats first. But eventually monkeys.

      “Professor: As a man enters his 18th decade, he thinks back on the mistakes he made in life. Amy: Like the heaps of the dead monkeys? Professor: Science can not move forward without heaps!”

      • plz1@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        9 months ago

        Their comment was in relation to Neuralink being in the news about killing monkeys, recently, not attributing OP’s news to him.

    • photonic_sorcerer@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      212·
      9 months ago

      Animal testing has saved the lives of millions and improved billions. It’s gruesome, but necessary. Especially for research like this.

    • volodymyr@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      9 months ago

      It does make you wonder what caused spinal injury in these mice. I do not suppose there is a sufficient natural supply of these kinds of injured mice.

      But, if not animal testing, how do you propose to develop the treatment?

      • Ryantific_theory@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        9 months ago

        It’s a little grim, but there’s a standard SCI (spinal cord injury) guillotine that drops a weight with an angled wedge to cause a near perfectly replicable SCI. The mouse is sedated, but it’s not exactly a good time for the mouse.

        But yeah, the alternative is testing on humans, which, I really don’t think we need a reminder on why that’s super illegal.

    • Rooty@lemmy.worldEnglish
      43·
      9 months ago

      People who value the lives of small rodents over the lives of fellow human beings should have their heads checked, because their moral compass is seriously out of whack.

        • Rooty@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          9 months ago

          Their whole consciousness reduced down to moving forward and backwards in a toy car. Absolutely barbaric.

          You’re making it sound like they did it for funsies, rather than important research. Also, link please, this sounds like a massive breakthrough.

          • wafflez@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            9 months ago

            Not even an applicable anaology when we’re breeding and slaughtering rats on a mass scale. It’s not the difference choosing between the life of a rat and the well-being of a human. Animal testing is generally not even applicable to humans and just results in large amounts of death and suffering. Not even to mention the grotesque method artificial insemination of rats. We have better alternatives to animal testing like in vitro, animal testing is not necessary

    • Vlixz@lemmy.worldEnglish
      151·
      9 months ago

      I genuinely don’t want to be hateful, but how do you expect stuff like this to be tested without hurting “some” animals. I’m not saying I agree with animal testing and if possible I’d rather them test it another way, but I do understand the importance of it. Without this lot’s of medications and treatments wouldn’t exist.

        • photonic_sorcerer@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          153·
          9 months ago

          In vitro cell cultures don’t have spinal cords. For stuff like this, you need the living animal. Also, fun fact, in order to aquire the cells to culture, you need to kill newborn rats.