Georgia Injury Law Blog
Victims of car accidents, motorcycle accidents and trucking accidents who have suffered a spinal cord injury may look forward to a day when they can walk independently again thanks to a new breakthrough in research in the field.
Scientists recently announced a breakthrough in their attempts to regenerate axons in persons who have suffered a spinal cord injury. The breakthrough was announced by a team of scientists that included both Swiss and American researchers. According to the team, they found that redirecting regenerated axons to their target regions was more effective in helping along the healing process and aided the recovery of the patient, compared to random regrowth of axons.
Back in 2018, the team had identified that axons which are responsible for communicating transmissions among the nerve cells could be regrown after the damage. However, they found that even when the axons were regrown, it did not really lead to any marked or significant functional recovery for the patient. Now, however, they say that they have found a way to redirect the regenerated axons to their target region, helping restore functional movement. The researchers experimented on mice with spinal cord injury, and found that the mice were actually able to walk independently after the treatment.