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Posted: 10th January 2023

Feline study offers fresh hope for human spinal cord injury
“To help treat any disease, we need to understand how the intact system works"
Researchers analysed cat locomotion to understand how the spinal cord works.

A study by US researchers has revealed fresh insights into feline locomotion and how this could help people with spinal cord injuries walk and maintain their balance.

Writing in the journal eNeuro, researchers describe how, through a mix of computer models and experimental studies involving cats, they were better able to understand how the spinal cord works.

Led by the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT), the study found that somatosensory feedback, or neural signals from specialised sensors throughout the body, help inform the spinal cord about ongoing movement. 
In turn, these impulses coordinate the four limbs to help prevent cats from falling when they encounter objects.

Even if the connection between the spinal cord and the brain is partially fractured, the studies indicate that these motion-related sensory impulses may enable the animal to walk. Scientists believe understanding the mechanisms behind this is particularly relevant to older people with balance issues, who may be at risk of injury from falling. 

The team hopes their discovery could bring fresh understanding to the role of somatosensory feedback in balance control and that it could also lead to progress in treatments for spinal cord injury. 

Professor Boris Prilutsky from Georgia's School of Biological Sciences explained: “To help treat any disease, we need to understand how the intact system works.

“That was one reason why this study was performed, so we could understand how the spinal networks coordinate limb movements and develop a realistic computational model of spinal control of locomotion. This will help us know better how the spinal cord controls locomotion.”



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