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A NEW DEVICE has allowed two monkeys to regain use of their paralysed legs by transmitting brain signals wirelessly, bypassing their spinal cord lesions, a study released by the journal Nature said this week.
The implantable device, called a neuroprosthetic interface, was developed by an international team led by researchers at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL) and may soon be tested as a remedy for paralysis in humans.
“For the first time, I can imagine a completely paralysed patient able to move their legs through this brain-spine interface,” Jocelyne Bloch, a neurosurgeon at the Lausanne University Hospital, confirmed.
The interface conceived at EPFL is a multi-component brain-spine connector, which decodes signals from the part of the motor cortex responsible for leg movements.
It then relays those signals in real time to the lumbar region of the spinal cord that activates leg muscles to walk.
In the two test cases, the monkeys’ motor cortex and spinal lumbar regions were still functioning.
The interface was therefore able to wirelessly relay the movement instructions while skipping the damaged area of the spine causing the paralysis, EPFL said.
The monkeys regained some use of their paralysed leg within two weeks, walking on both a treadmill and on the ground.
The journal noted that implantable technology that decodes brain signals has previously allowed a human patient to move a prosthetic or robotic hand.
But using a neuroprosthetic interface to activate a complex leg muscle in a primate was a first, Nature added.
The lead scientist on the groundbreaking project, Gregoire Courtine of EPFL, warned “it may take several years before all the components of this intervention can be tested in people”.
The concept of the interface was developed in Switzerland, key components came from Brown University in the US state of Rhode Island and the medical device company Medtronic, based in Dublin.
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Bring back the pirates. Greatest era of radio in Ireland. Ah the memories :)
@Declan Moran: totally agree radio Nova was brilliant…signal for Christmas fm is very bad in some parts of the country this year for some reason
@Dave Ryan: Agree, last year on 87.7 in North Co.Cork, it was blowing the head off me, this year its weak and hissy at times
@Dave Ryan: ah it was great Dave. Nova, Q102 all the local ones in a lot of county towns. I always wanted to work in radio. The closest I came was playing music over the PA system in secondary school at lunchtime every day with two friends :). But I did spend most Saturdays in the studio of our local station Kiss FM in Tullamore. I was supposed to be gathering sports results but was having a great laugh with the guys on air. Such great times and they had so much freedom to broadcast properly. Today it’s minimum requirements for this and that and repetitive playlists. Haven’t listened to radio in Ireland for such a long time. It’s made up of a lot of shouty presenters with big egos. For me these days it’s spotify, my own collection or a station in Madrid that plays a great mix of music.
Well done to them
If I hear Bruce Springsteen once more I’m switching back to regular stations. They must be playing him twice an hour and it’s a terrible Christmas song.
@Dick Nagle: Have to agree with you on that dick. His shouting would frighten me never mind the kids.
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