Injecting Stem Cells Directly Into the Brain Lets Stroke Patients Walk Again

Previously immobile stroke patients might be able to walk again, thanks to a promising new technique that endows the brain with greater power to repair itself.

Scientists have long thought that when a stroke damages regions of a person’s brain that control motor skills, the affected brain circuits can’t be repaired because they have permanently died out. But recent clinical trials suggest that we may need to shift our understanding. Gary Steinberg, a neurosurgeon from Stanford University and one of the researchers involved in the trials, says that these circuits could instead be inhibited, and therefore capable of becoming disinhibited....
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/body/injecting-stem-cells-directly-into-the-brain-lets-stroke-patients-walk-again/