'Bionic' Nerve To Bring Damaged Limbs And Organs Back To Life

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'Bionic' Nerve To Bring Damaged Limbs And Organs Back To Life

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071017094047.htm

University of Manchester researchers have transformed fat tissue

stem cells into nerve cells - and now plan to develop an artificial

nerve that will bring damaged limbs and organs back to life.

Giorgio Terenghi is director of the UK Centre for Tissue

Regeneration. The team of scientists have transformed fat tissue

stem cells into nerve cells - and now plan to develop an artificial

nerve that will bring damaged limbs and organs back to life.

In a study published in October's Experimental Neurology, Dr

Kingham and his team at the UK Centre for Tissue Regeneration

(UKCTR) isolated the stem cells from the fat tissue of adult animals

and differentiated them into nerve cells to be used for repair and

regeneration of injured nerves. They are now about to start a trial

extracting stem cells from fat tissue of volunteer adult patients,

in order to compare in the laboratory human and animal stem cells.

Following that, they will develop an artificial nerve constructed

from a biodegradable polymer to transplant the differentiated stem

cells. The biomaterial will be rolled up into a tube-like structure

and inserted between the two ends of the cut nerve so that the

regrowing nerve fibre can go through it from one end to the other.

This 'bionic' nerve could also be used in people who have suffered

trauma injuries to their limbs or organs, cancer patients whose

tumour surgery has affected a nearby nerve trunk and people who have

had organ transplants.

With a clinical trial on the biomaterial about to be completed, the

researchers hope the treatment could be ready for use in four or

five years.

Dr Kingham said: " The differentiated stem cells have great potential

for future clinical use, initially for treatment of patients with

traumatic injuries of nerves in the arms and legs.

" This work will also help to develop a similar surgical approach for

organ transplant, to give full functional recuperation to the

transplanted tissue.

" Furthermore, the technique of artificial nerve grafting could also

be applicable when tumour mass has involved a nearby nerve trunk,

which consequently has to be excised together with the tumour, such

as the removal of a prostate tumour where damage to the nerve leads

to male impotence. "

Director of the UKCTR, Professor Giorgio Terenghi said: " This new

research is a very exciting development with many future clinical

applications that will improve the lives of many different types of

patients and therefore many, many people.

" The frequency of nerve injury is one in every 1,000 of the

population - or 50,000 cases in the UK - every year.

" The current repair method - a patient donating their own nerve

graft to span the gap at the injury site - is far from optimal

because of the poor functional outcome, the extra damage and the

possibility of forming scars and tumours at the donor site. Tissue

engineering using a combination of biomaterials and cell-based

therapies, while at an early stage, promises a great improvement on

that. Artificial nerve guides provide mechanical support, protect

the re-growing nerve and contain growth factor and molecules

favourable to regeneration. The patient will not be able to tell

that they had ever 'lost' their limb and will be able carry on

exactly as they did before. "

He added: " The facilities available at the UKCTR have been developed

jointly by the University of Manchester and the North West

Development Agency, with exactly this aim - to provide the

transition from experimental research to new clinical treatment. "