Brain circuitry research offers hope of paralysis cure
The success of groundbreaking laboratory research with monkeys has made it feasible for scientists to talk about having cures for spinal cord injuries and other paralyzing conditions within just five short years. Using computer-assisted technology, scientists were able to reroute neuronal signals from monkeys' brains, enabling them to move paralyzed wrists.
Research conducted at the University of Washington in Seattle suggests that clinical applications that can assist people paralyzed by spinal cord injuries or neurological diseases are perhaps five years away from realization.
In a study published by Nature, scientists Eberhard E. Fetz, Chet T. Moritz and Steve I. Perlmutter demonstrated for the first time that a direct artificial connection from the brain to muscles could restore voluntary movement in monkeys whose arms were temporarily anesthetized.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The researchers connected electronic implants to single nerve cells in the motor cortex -- the area of the brain that controls voluntary movements -- enabling the animals to move their paralyzed muscles. The electrodes implanted in the motor cortex were connected via external circuitry to a computer.
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