Stem cells injected into paralysed rats help them walk: scientists
Scientists in the United States have found that injecting stem cells into paralysed rats helped them to walk, but not by acting in the way they had expected.
Writing in the Journal of Neuroscience, they say they expected the stem cells to produce new nerve cells.
But in fact, the injected human stem cells bathed the damaged rat nerve cells in nourishing compounds, helping them survive.
The researchers at Johns Hopkins University say their findings shed new light on the potential of stem cells.
They say that when nerve cells die, they send out signals that often cause neighbouring, healthy, cells to also die.
The use of foetal stem cells produced two proteins that seemed to protect the healthy nerve cells.
The leader of the study, Dr Douglas Kerr, says that while way the treated rats were able to walk was far from normal, the improvements shown could be important clinically.