Accepted Answer

There are several issues with this. One is that the rats cannot talk to tell you what they are feeling. The spinal cord is so complex and has so many avenues for conduction to and from the brain that there is no way of knowing if they are capable of sensing other things that are associated with the regeneration process. One of those things is pain. If you can image that you cut a cable is half that serviced a city of 25 million people for their phones and when you went to repair that cable, none of the wires were color coded then you have some idea of what we are up against. The process would be much like overcoming a task equivalent to a massive stroke. The brain is going to have to be able to interpret some of the signals that come in on the wrong nerves and this presents a host of problems. If your big toe nerve is now the nerve that is connected to the brain area that controls the adduction of the right thigh, is your brain going to be able to retrain itself in order to make that function work again? There are nerve systems that control everything from vasodialation to flexation and some of those are not able to be redirected. If they could be, then the process to retrain the brain would be years in the making. When a baby is born, they have no idea what signals from the brain affect what part of the body. Seeing what action takes place in a newborns movement shows that they are associating feelings and motions. What would happen if the nerves that sense pain are repaired to the wrong axion and severed untolerable pain signals develope? This is one area of medicine that is going to not be able to move forward for some time. The fact that a severing injury to the spinal cord releases and enzyme that makes those nerves unable to regenerate is just one of the obstacles that has to be overcome.

Expert:	Brad
Pos. Feedback:	84.6 %
Accepts:
Answered:	3/4/2009

Paramedic (EMT)

EMT, IV MAST