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PARIS: One tiny brain cell is all it
takes to restore voluntary movement of paralysed muscles, scientists in the
United States reported.
In experiments pointing to new treatments
for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury or stroke, monkeys learned within
minutes to harness the power of a single neuron to activate muscles immobilised
by drugs.
There are some 100 billion neurons in the human brain, and
the study suggests an unsuspected degree of flexibility in the kinds of tasks
they can perform.
“Nearly every neuron we tested could be used
to control this type of stimulation,” Chet Moritz, lead author and a
researcher at the University of Washington, told journalists in a conference
call on Wednesday.
If a monkey can do it, a human should be able to
do it even better, he said.
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