Stem cells help paralysed mice walk – over in Italy, that is. Here in the good ol’ US of A, stem cells are the devil’s work.
Cells injected into the bloodstream found their way to the animals’ brains, where they repaired damaged and inflamed areas. Four out of 15 mice with paralysed back legs moved normally after treatment1.
“It’s a great recovery,” says team member Angelo Vescovi of the Stem Cell Research Institute at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy. The other 11 mice retained only minor tail paralysis.