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Paralysis Partially Reversed in Rats With ALS-like Disease

Brian Vastag

JAMA. 2001;285:1691-1693.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Baltimore—Clearly, something is wrong with the white lab rat. Back arched, haunches tensed, he wobbles about the tabletop, hind feet splaying with each step.

But what's wrong with him is also what's right.

Three months ago, the rat's lower body lay paralyzed due to a nerve-eating virus that mimics neurological disorders like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He scooted around on front legs, dragging his hindquarters like a tiny sled.

Now he can walk, albeit clumsily. In the most dramatic demonstration of stem cells' potential to date, this rat and a dozen others partially recovered from paralysis after injections of laboratory-sprouted, intermediate-stage stem cells. Grown from a patch of fetal tissue, these human cells settled into the rat's spinal column and—somehow—brought life to dead feet.

"This kind of result is more than we could imagine," said John D. Gearhart, PhD, the Johns Hopkins University stem cell guru whose . . . [Full Text of this Article]