Swiss and other scientists have discovered specific neurons that enable the reversal of paralysis and the restoration of walking. This achievement paves the way for more targeted therapies that could help a wide range of people, even those who have lost all sensation in their legs due to a serious spinal cord injury (e.g. after a car accident or fall), which has severed the connection between the brain and the nerve cells that control movement in the lower limbs.

Thanks to this discovery, nine patients with severe or complete paralysis due to chronic damage to the spinal cord regained the ability to walk after being treated with prolonged electrical stimulation of specific neurons through the implantation of a special electrical device in the spine.

Researchers from Switzerland, the US, Austria, and Canada, led by neuroscientist Dr. Grégoire Courtine of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, who published their findings in the journal Nature, identified—through experiments on paralyzed rodents and with the help of artificial intelligence—specific groups of neurons in the spinal cord that, when electrically stimulated, play a vital role in restoring the ability to walk.

Clinical trials of the method (Epidural Electrical Stimulation, or EES), which began in 2018, enabled all nine participants with paralysis to improve or regain their ability to walk. The improvement in mobility continued five months after the treatment was administered.

The researchers emphasized that their findings bring us one step closer to understanding how mobility can be restored in paralyzed individuals. However, because other neurons in the brain and spinal cord may also be involved in restoring walking, further research is needed.

The EES technique could in future be combined with physiotherapy, as well as with gene or stem cell therapies that will replace damaged spinal cord neurons. Courten has already set up a start-up company called Onward, based in the Netherlands, to promote the new medical technology.