NEW NERVES FOR OLD

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2137, 1 May 1914, Page 11

NEW NERVES FOR OLD

EXPERIMENTS OP A SCOTTISH PMFKSSOR THE SURGERY OF PARALYSIS! .(London "limes.-") Tlio latest acliicrononii of surgery is the restoration of paralysed muscles by reptu'r ami replacement of injured nci'ces. When a iicrve is sorerod or severely injured the muEc'los supplied b,v it aro cut ofl : from oomiauuwation with the sourco of vital energy, lite i brain, and bwomfl useless. Soon both muscle's and that portion of tbo scwrea ucrvo connected to tlieni begin to waste and degenerate, ] Uuti) within recent, rears it was sttp- j I posed that such muscle and Mrve»wast- ' j ing was incurable. Tbd unfortunato victims of facial paralysis caused bv injury or cold, of infanttla paralysis, <>f paralysis ei' sets of miSsclcs in consequomic at wourofe and contneions remained without hope- of any alleviation of their syraptoius. Then modern surgery, triumphant after many sut> cesses, essayed the problem, and proved that if a cut iiervo was imiuctliately reunited loss of function, rjid sot take place. This first step led to a consideration of tjw question tfhetlier it ;inight not bo posstblo to effect- a reunion after a lapse of tijne, and when boft muscles and nerves had begun to degenerate. Keen cofttfoversy was; awakened, but finally it Vfn* eoneltisively proved _ by several investigators that norvo union, ■oven After nsrlysis liad occnrrcd, miglit be expsci*6 to' effect, if not complete cure, at least groat improvement.

; Norve-Cttafling. Espcrfwents on amotals wer-o conducted en a large scale, anil as the result of these it was shown that if tile degenerated end of a sovorcd nervo was united to the (aid connected witr. iho brain, the w-oetecl muscles supplied by the nervo gradually recovered their powers. Tiits operation was soon attempted upon human sufferers, with excellent results,' n-nd some wonderlnl work liipcn facial and iufuuHlo paralysis was eifceterii .. .-. The work ha-S hot boon earned a stags farther, and it has been de«wnstrnted that in cases where, for any reason, union of the divided irate is impossiblo a junction may l>6 effected between its degenerated portion wl aaiy other corivenieat li&rve. ihis "Hefve-gi'aitdng" is. fottni ,to gwe }uti» mately results abuast as good as- those obtained by. the older mothfld of nerve

The reniarkftble. feaiure of the ,» oneratiou is that it (tows wjticlnsivoly that a, htain cell hiay fee tafiglit to perform two separate fuftotkns. wth nervo camtnUHwatps with a particular set of brain cells which control its activities. It was snpjxSsM that these cells were of a liifiMy specialised *ractor, and cotild perform only the. tm\ction allotted to them by Nature, The idea that they might be taught to control in addition an entirely *{>pos)to, ■even it differeiitj series of actions was regarded as absurd. .

Expsfi.mo.Rts an ao'ss.Professor Robert Kennedy, <if GlaS" goiv, tJio welWciiowii surgcoiij and peftepij the most brilliant worke;r-in tills fioldi, lias recently i.uade.'fl, series of os-. poriroimts conducted on tiro fore limb of tlio dog with a view to thfoAvatg further light on this question. He Bewrfid all tte HPTVC& to tljo hiusdes boiow: tlio a-aiuial'e Mm', .aiwli.theii eoaaeeted all these-Wttscles to the groiap of neh»es controlling -flosioa, or bonding. The dog Was for some tinip unalile to direct or eo-ordtaate its nravemcntSi (irad" ually, hosvevor, at about, the 93rd.(fey, this power returned; *t hart been eoroplotfrly regiinei by tlia- 123ril day, An espfi-riaietii with all the muscles con* nected to tlio extensor o:r strflijhtai.ingout nerves was thou tjiecj. Hero recovery of action bqfiai-i ftt the 69 th a ltd was eofliplcio-by .tho 79th day.. Ae,eordittß to the oklof eonpfeptiotj of ftpeve activity ami «oiitrel, the' (Tog in tlw first esjjerittisut snoakl Itavo Wett able, ■to bend, but never again t<) straighten out its foreleg; in ■ tb.o second "to ■ straighten but never agaiii to bond J it. Thaij mi tlio contrary, fftll Wove- ■ meat \ras s<lol.l rogeined Itas 'apsct tMs theory completely, attd. has .prdvttl tJjat tiie brain is capable-, if Ertreß tl>o opportuwity, of adaptii-is itself within a short period to almost any changes a! nerve distribution. Tiio possiblo applica-tiions- of tlra {fiscevefy are very wide. For thft nerve's of a withered or useless limb, tho finietidtt <if which tots, been lost through soma injury to or disease of tl» brain, e.g., by apoplexy, if eonncctr pd to a nervo trtmk leading to a hoalth.y part of that orgiin might again feeovvo and convey stliniili, In that casti tho degenerated ant! flnbb.y nniseks would regain iAieir power and tlio deformity be cured. Whiist this is spftcitlartion, tji»re eftn lie no daubt frhnt Dr, Kennedy's work is of the highest j.m-port-aiMo and interast, nor tlirt it will have very far-reaching effects.