Can an experimental technique using transplanted fetal cells help paralyzed patients? Probably not. But a doctor in China is forging ahead anyway.
Editor's note on April 17, 2006: We would like to commend Nature for its news report (fee req.) of April 13, 2006, about the claims of the Beijing neurosurgeon Huang Hongyun, which has confirmed the serious doubts raised by our correspondent in this January 2005 article.
Anesthetize the rat. Lay it belly down. Shave a patch along its spine and cut to the bone. Do a laminectomy, that is, take the bone off a short length of the back of the spine, exposing the spinal cord. Suspend a 10-gram rod above the spinal cord, at a height of 12.5 millimeters, or 25, or 50 millimeters. Let it drop.
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