In what is being touted as a medical first in terms of restoring independent breathing via spinal cord repair, US researchers have been successful in restoring the ‘ability to breathe’ in mice with spinal cord injuries!

According to a study published in the July 13-edition of the journal Nature, researchers restored 80-100 percent breathing in partially paralyzed rats by combining two therapies - a peripheral nerve graft and treatment with an enzyme blocker.

The results - which showed that a nerve graft, together with a protein, could restore breathing – underscore the suggestion that a combination of two therapies with additional treatments, like electrical stimulation or other drugs, could probably help bring about further improvement.

With the breathing restoration experiments successful in mice, it is evident that human trials would also be round the corner --- a situation which, as per the charity Spinal Research, could be "potentially life-changing," given the fact that any injury at the top of the spinal cord can interrupt messages to the diaphragm - a layer of muscle that plays a vital role in the breathing process.

However, noting that the research has shown for the very first time that “robust, long-distance regeneration can restore function of the respiratory system fully,” the study’s co-author Jerry Silver, a neuroscientist at Case Western University in Ohio, cautioned in a press release that further lab work was required before the technique can be tried on human volunteers!