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Stemcell therapy restores movement in paralyzed mice

June 20, 2006

TUESDAY, June 20 (HealthDay News) - In what experts are describing as a major advance, scientists have used embryonic stem cells to form new, functional nerve cell connections in formerly paralyzed mice that effectively restored the animals' limb movement.

While success in humans remains a distant goal, the achievement is "proof of principle" that stem-cell grafts such as these might someday be used to treat spinal cord injury, ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), Parkinson's disease and other crippling neurological conditions, one expert said.

"This is something that we've been looking for for 30 years," said Naomi Kleitman, program director of the Extramural Research Program at the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Kleitman was not involved in the study, but her office helped fund the research. She called the finding "exciting, because it proves the principle that with the right combination, we can coax (nerve) cells out, and now we know what to build on."

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