The implant are designed to deliver both electric impulses and pharmacological compounds, researchers explain

Jan 9, 2015 10:43 GMT  ·  By

Scientists with Switzerland's École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne claim to have made it possible for paralyzed mice to walk again simply by fitting their spinal cord with implants designed to deliver electric impulses and pharmacological compounds.

The researchers detail their work in a paper published in the journal Science this past January 8. In this report, the scientists argue that, at some point in the not-too-distant future, it might be possible to use such implants to treat human patients left paralyzed by spinal cord injuries.

How the high-tech implantable devices work

As detailed in the journal Science, the implantable devices developed by the teams of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne professors Stéphanie Lacour and Grégoire Courtine are designed to be attached directly to the spinal cord.

The devices are both flexible and stretchy, meaning that they do not threaten to injure the spinal cord by rubbing against it and thus causing severe inflammation. In fact, the scientists who created them claim that they behave very much like living tissues when in the body.

It is precisely because they are elastic and, consequently, unlikely to damage the area of implant that the devices pose a significantly lower risk of rejection than other similar gizmos that are fairly rigid do, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne researchers say.

It is understood that the electric impulses and the pharmacological compounds delivered by the devices serve to treat spinal cord injuries. More precisely, the impulses and the compounds stimulate and reanimate nerve cells at the site of injury. In doing so, they treat paralysis.

Promising results obtained when experimenting on mice

Professors Stéphanie Lacour and Grégoire Courtine, together with their colleagues, say that, having developed several such flexible spinal cord implants, they moved on to testing their efficiency on laboratory mice. Thus, they fitted a group of paralyzed rodents with such gizmos.

The researchers say that, just a few weeks after having been implanted the devices, the paralyzed animals were able to walk again on their own. True, the mice also had to undergo training in order to regain their ability to walk, but the fact remains that, without the devices, they would not have recovered.

What's more, the scientists behind this series of experiments say that, even after having carried the devices in their body for a couple of months, the laboratory rodents that they toyed with showed no signs of inflammation, damage or rejection in the area of implant.

The devices could one day serve to treat human patients

The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne specialists are confident that, at some point in the not-too-distant future, their innovative implantable devices will serve to treat human patients left paralyzed by accidents that translated into damage to their spinal cord.

Besides, the specialists argue that it might also be possible to use such gizmos, now referred to as e-Dura implants – that's because they are electronic and they are supposed to be placed under the dura mater, which is a thick membrane that surrounds the brain and the spinal cord – to treat Parkinson’s.

“Our e-Dura implant can remain for a long period of time on the spinal cord or the cortex, precisely because it has the same mechanical properties as the dura mater itself,” researcher Stéphanie Lacour told the press in an interview.

“This opens up new therapeutic possibilities for patients suffering from neurological trauma or disorders, particularly individuals who have become paralyzed following spinal cord injury,” the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne scientist added.

If you have a few minutes to spare and happen to be in the mood to learn a wee more about how the implantable devices developed by these researchers work, do check out the video below. Mind you, you'll even get to see one of the mice treated by these brainiacs walking around on its own.