Rats Walk Again After Paralyzing Spinal Cord Injury

Jan 7, 2013

The mission at the “G-Lab” is to find ways to restore voluntary motor functions in people with spinal cord injuries. The lab’s team of researchers took a huge leap forward toward their goal last year when they restored voluntary locomotion in rats with paralyzing spinal cord injuries.

“After a couple of weeks of neurorehabilitation with a combination of a robotic harness and electrical-chemical stimulation, our rats are not only voluntarily initiating a walking gait, but they are soon sprinting, climbing up stairs and avoiding obstacles when stimulated,” Dr. Gregoire Courtine said in an interview with EPFL media.

What’s more, A-M Systems electrophysiology instruments were used during the experiment (Science 336, 1182 (2012); doi: 10.1126/science. 1217416).

Can you identify which instrument was used? Watch the video below.

 

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