{"id":141268,"date":"2018-06-14T17:39:47","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T17:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/gene-therapy-reverses-rats-paralysis\/"},"modified":"2018-06-14T17:39:47","modified_gmt":"2018-06-14T17:39:47","slug":"gene-therapy-reverses-rats-paralysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/gene-therapy-reverses-rats-paralysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Gene therapy reverses rat’s paralysis"},"content":{"rendered":"
Media playback is unsupported on your device
Media captionParalysed rat picks up sugar cube after gene therapy repairs spinal cord<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scientists say they have taken a significant step towards the goal of giving paralysed people control of their hands again.<\/p>\n

The team at King's College London used gene therapy to repair damage in the spinal cord of rats.<\/p>\n

The animals could then pick up and eat sugar cubes with their front paws.<\/p>\n

It is early stage research, but experts said it was some of the most compelling evidence that people's hand function could one day be restored.<\/p>\n

The spinal cord is a dense tube of nerves carrying instructions from the brain to the rest of the body. <\/p>\n

The body repairs a wounded spinal cord with scar tissue. <\/p>\n

However, the scar acts like a barrier to new connections forming between nerves. <\/p>\n

How the gene therapy works <\/h2>\n

The researchers were trying to dissolve components of the scar tissue in the rats' spinal cord.<\/p>\n

They needed to give cells in the cord a new set of genetic instructions - a gene - for breaking down the scar.<\/p>\n

The instructions they gave were for an enzyme called chondroitinase. And they used a virus to deliver them. <\/p>\n

Finally, a drug was used to activate the instructions. <\/p>\n

The animals regained use of their front paws after the gene therapy had been switched on for two months. <\/p>\n

Dr Emily Burnside, one of the researchers, said: "The rats were able to accurately reach and grasp sugar pellets. <\/p>\n

"We also found a dramatic increase in activity in the spinal cord of the rats, suggesting that new connections had been made in the networks of nerve cells."<\/p>\n

The researchers hope their approach will work for people injured in car crashes or falls. <\/p>\n

Prof Elizabeth Bradbury told the BBC: "We find this really exciting, recovery of this type of function, because for spinal injured patients their highest priority is to get their hand function back. <\/p>\n

"Being able to pick up a coffee cup, hold a toothbrush, these types of things will have a dramatic increase on their quality of life and their independence."<\/p>\n

In 2014, a paralysed man was able to walk with a frame after cells from inside his nose were used to regenerate part of his spinal cord.<\/p>\n

The patient, Darek Fidyka, was injured in a knife attack that caused a different type of wound to those in car crashes.<\/p>\n

The gene therapy approach is not yet ready for human clinical trials. <\/p>\n

Dr Mark Bacon, from the charity Spinal Research, told the BBC: "The data is some of the most compelling I've seen demonstrating restoration of skilled forelimb function.<\/p>\n

"It's exciting, but getting approval for gene therapies represents a particular, but not insurmountable, challenge to getting it to the clinic. <\/p>\n

"Transferred to the clinic, this research could be life-changing for the millions of people worldwide with paralysis caused by a spinal cord injury."<\/p>\n

Follow James on Twitter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media playback is unsupported on your deviceMedia captionParalysed rat picks up sugar cube after gene therapy repairs spinal cord Scientists say they have taken a significant step towards the goal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}