A NEW method of helping nerves damaged by traumatic accidents to repair naturally has been developed by scientists at the University of Sheffield.
The breakthrough could improve the chances of restoring sensation and movement in injured limbs.
The traditional course of action, where possible, is to surgically suture or graft the nerve endings together. However, reconstructive surgery often does not result in complete recovery.
Now a team from Sheffield and Laser Zentrum Hanover has come up with a new method for making devices called nerve guidance conduits (NGCs) which encourage nerve regrowth.
The team can now manufacture NGCs with designs that are far more advanced than previously possible.
John Haycock, Professor of Bioengineering at Sheffield, said: “When nerves in the arms or legs are injured they have the ability to re-grow, unlike in the spinal cord.
“However, they need assistance to do this. We are designing scaffold implants that can bridge an injury site and provide a range of physical and chemical cues for stimulating this regrowth.”
The new conduit is made from a biodegradable synthetic polymer material based on polylactic acid and has been designed to guide damaged nerves to re-grow through a number of small channels.
Dr Frederik Claeyssens, lecturer in Biomaterials, said: “Nerves aren’t just like one long cable, they’re made up of lots of small cables, similar to how an electrical wire is constructed.
“Using our new technique we can make a conduit with individual strands so the nerve fibres can form a similar structure to an undamaged nerve.”
Once the nerve is fully regrown, the conduit biodegrades naturally.
The team hopes that this approach will significantly increase recovery for a wide range of peripheral nerve injuries.
In laboratory experiments, nerve cells added to the polymer conduit grew naturally within its channelled structure and the research team is now working towards clinical trials.
Dr Claeyssens added: “If successful we anticipate these scaffolds will not just be applicable to peripheral nerve injury, but could also be developed for other types of nerve damage, too. The technique of laser direct writing may ultimately allow production of scaffolds that could help in the treatment of spinal cord injury.
“What’s exciting about this work is that not only have we designed a new method for making nerve guide scaffolds which support nerve growth, we’ve also developed a method of easily reproducing them through micromolding.
“This technology could make a huge difference to patients suffering severe nerve damage.”
