Kind: captions
Language: en
now we've all heard of mind over matter
but is it possible that the right
motivation can actually help repair
spinal
damage I've come to loanne Switzerland
to find out about some Innovative
research being done to repair the spinal
cords of rats using Pharmaceuticals
electrical signals and the key
ingredient
motivation sometimes with the right
motivation Anything is
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Possible
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the main function of the spinal cord is
to transmit neural signals or messages
between the brain and the rest of the
body so when the spinal cord is severed
or crushed these messages can't get past
the injury the result is often chronic
paralysis research in this area
generally focuses on regenerating
damaged nerve fibers but here in loanne
they're taking a different approach
welcome in the lab oh thank you
Professor Corine's work with rats is
producing remarkable results what so I
thought what can we actually deliver to
the spinal cord the kind of information
that the brain would deliver naturally
in order to
work the rats have their spinal cords
cut in two places although not
completely severed signals can't get
past the lesion leaving the rats
paralyzed to reactivate the healthy but
disconnected neuros cells below the
injury the researchers administer a
cocktail of synthetic neurotransmitters
followed by electrical stimulation um
I'm pluging the cable that connects to
the uh electrodes on the spinal cord uh
so we can provide the stimulation to the
spinal cord okay so there are cables
that run down the spinal cord uh it
actually runs Under the Skin and then uh
it's sutured on top of the spinal cord
this electrochemical combination mimics
the input of the brain and awakens the
spinal cord below the lesion now I start
the trill
immediately she will start working it's
amazing right the result after a few
weeks of training and while on the
treadmill the rat is incredibly able to
walk again window so this animal was
completely paralyzed 5 minutes ago and
now she's doing continu stepping on the
treadmill and I we go at running speed
immediately up the animal is capable of
like literally sprinting on the
treadmill and look at this you can even
do it yourself I will stop the treadmill
up she stand immediately but this is
happening without the involvement of the
brain at this stage the rat's stepping
is stimulated by the treadmill the legs
are moving independently of the brain so
the movement is completely involuntary
that you know you can Trend the rat on
this treadmill for two month you will
not see recovery of volary control why
the brain is not involved there's no
motivation to work because you see that
the motivation is the key to restoring
voluntary movement so this is where the
irresistible Swiss chocolate comes
in I brought uh a chocolate aair I ate
half but the other half is uh for the
rat yeah see she does like it she likes
it we have a combination of like
actually yogurt and chocolate which the
rat
love this reward-based training without
a treadmill was the focus of the next
phase of research in the right position
they designed a special robot which only
supports the paralyzed rat but doesn't
Propel it forward this mean that the
rats really need to generate the
propulsive forces to go toward the
reward which is
circet so the rat is asked to go like
push herself forward but she does get a
little bit of help up and down the rats
have again been given electrochemical
stimulants but without the treadmill the
rat has to decide for itself if it wants
when you want the animal to participate
very actively I mean we're talking about
the Championships Rehabilitation you
know you need to motivate the right at
any cost come
come so ruia does whatever it takes to
coax the rat to walk come on J go
forward come on push them push pushti
come on keep
going the rat is now walking when it
wants to which means the brain signal
are getting through to the previously
paralyzed limbs wow she's done really
well yeah the rat spinal cord seems much
more capable of rewiring itself than
anyone expected in one of the most
extensive examples observed it's been
able to detour around the injury and
reconnect the dormant neural network
what what we observe is that the cut
fibers basically they grow and deliver
to this snal network below the injury
enough information we don't know what
kind but sufficient information from the
brain to have a voluntary
control what we're hearing is evidence
of the Rat making the decision to walk
the popping sound is a neuron firing and
here she's just standing but you'll see
once she starts walking there's a pretty
clear pattern of the activity of the
neuron with the rat
stepping it's showing that the movement
is
voluntary that's that's really cool that
was really exciting the first time that
happened because you know we had this
idea that the brain should be involved
but it hadn't been proven come go come
there's a whole team of people working
and everybody's pushing the rad and
everybody's oh go go go and I could hear
it before it happened and I really knew
okay it's going to work this time
perfect wow with half of all human
spinal injuries leading to Chronic
paralysis Professor core's research
gives New Hope to those affected so of
course the next obvious and you know
exciting goal is to try this type of
intervention in human you know it's
difficult to say what this will achieve
in humans but you know it's a very
promising New
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Path and bring it back into the
atmosphere
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