[앵커]
A gene therapy has been developed to make mice unable to move their legs due to spinal cord damage walk again.
It is a method of regenerating damaged nerve cells and connecting them to the correct area, and is evaluated as a fundamental treatment for paralyzed patients.
This is reporter Choi So-ra.
[기자]
A rat with a spinal cord injury moves forward by dragging its hind legs.
After receiving gene therapy, this mouse was able to move its hind legs and walk without any assistance.
This is thanks to gene therapy that regenerates damaged nerve cells in the spinal cord and even restores motor skills.
[마크 앤더슨 / 신경과학자 : 이번 치료법은 완전히 마비된 쥐도 운동 능력을 회복하도록 할 수 있습니다.]
In 2018, a research team developed a technology to regenerate nerve cells and neurons in the damaged spinal cord.
However, contrary to expectations, neuron regeneration alone did not help the animal move again, leaving actual recovery of motor skills a challenge.
After five years of research, the research team found that motor skills can be restored only when the projections of regenerated neurons grow in a specific direction and connect to the spinal cord.
This is the result of analyzing every neuron in the spinal cord while tracking the process of slowly recovering motor skills in a natural state in a rat with mild spinal cord injury.
[조던 스퀘어 / 신경과학자 : 재생된 뉴런이 어디로 연결돼야 하는지 알기 위해서 자연적인 회복 과정을 살펴봤습니다.]
Therefore, the research team focused on finding a growth factor that induces neuron projections to connect to the correct location, and eventually found it.
The results of this research were published in Science.
[그레고아 쿠르틴 / 신경과학자 : 이번 유전자 치료법을 사람에게 적용하려면 넘어야 할 문제가 많습니다. 하지만 전기 자극 치료법과 병행해 회복을 극대화할 방법을 개발할 수 있다는 점에서 의미가 있습니다.]
Several technologies for treating paralysis through electrical stimulation have been previously announced, but this is the first time that motor function has been fundamentally restored by regenerating nerve cells.
This is Choi So-ra from YTN Science.
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2023-10-01 07:42:00
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