Science 323, 1578–1582 (2009)

Electrical stimulation of the spinal cord can allow rodents with symptoms of Parkinson's disease to move normally.

This discovery suggests that spinal stimulation could eventually substitute for the risky 'deep-brain stimulation' (DBS) procedure offered to some patients with severe Parkinson's disease, according to Romulo Fuentes and his colleagues at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, who carried out the studies. DBS is an effective therapy, but highly invasive, because stimulating electrodes must be implanted deep in the brain.

The scientists say the spinal stimulation probably works through nerves that link the spinal cord to the motor cortex, where intentions to move are processed.