A pioneering treatment has been engineered for pet dogs paralysed by spine damage.
New pet drugs involving an injection of cells taken from the nose into the injured part of the body has been seen to help regenerate the damaged bone to part of their spinal cord, allowing dogs who [that] were once paralysed to walk again.
The owner of one previously crippled dachshund told the Daily Mail that their pet was now "whizzing around the house" after undergoing the treatment. Early tests on rats showed they were able to move their legs only six weeks after receiving the treatment, which is formally known as an olfactory ensheathing cells (OEC).
It is hoped that the treatment will now be modified to have human application, with patients with spinal injuries benefiting from the revolutionary procedure alongside other treatments.
Professor Robin Franklin, co-author of the study from the Wellcome Trust-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, at the University of Cambridge, said: "Our findings are extremely exciting because they show for the first time that transplanting these types of cell into a severely damaged spinal cord can bring about significant improvement."
