Study Finds Spinal Nerves Can Regrow

A laboratory rat experiment has proven that severed spinal nerves can grow new connections in adult mammals, and “suddenly we can be very hopeful” that a way will be found to restore function in human patients, scientists said. In a study to be published today in the journal Science, researchers in Sweden reported that they successfully grew new nerve connections across the gaps of severed spinal cords in laboratory rats and that the experiment restored some motion and sensation to the paralyzed hind legs of the animals. Researcher Lars Olson said all 23 of the rats regained some motion and that some of the animals recovered up to 20% of their function. Dr. Wise Young, a nerve system researcher at the New York University Medical Center in New York, said the findings dispel the long-held belief that severed spinal cord nerves can never be reconnected. He emphasized, however, that the experiment proved only the principle of regrowth, not the technique.