Nose cells help paralyzed dogs walk again (VIDEO)

GlobalPost

A group of paralyzed dogs is walking again thanks to some help from their own noses.

Scientists at Cambridge University injected cells grown from the lining of the dogs' noses into their spines as a way to regenerate damaged areas, BBC News reported.

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Researchers are cautiously optimistic the treatment could eventually be used on human patients.

In the study, funded by the Medical Research Council and published in the neurology journal Brain, scientists took olfactory ensheathing cells from the noses of the paralyzed dogs and injected them into 23 dogs, The Telegraph reported.

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According to the BBC, the olfactory system is the only site where adults continue to develop nerve fibers.

A neutral control substance was injected into 11 other dogs.

The latter group saw no improvement, but many of the 23 transplant dogs were able to walk again with the help of a harness on a treadmill.

One of the transplant dogs, a dachshund named Jasper, was described by its owner as "whizzing around the house" after undergoing the treatment, The Daily Mail reported.

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