Scaffolding to rebuild the spinal cord

2004/03/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza

In Chicago, a mechanism has been designed to help the growth of affected nerve cells and researchers believe it may be useful to repair injured column metrics.

If the spinal cord is cut, the nerves cannot grow in the remaining section to join both sides. So far, many researchers have tried to build bridges to facilitate nerve growth. Solid materials have been used for this, but the invasive surgery needed for its application is at great risk of causing more damage to the core.

But Chicago researchers have made the bridge with a liquid. Injection of the liquid solution into the spinal cord becomes a solid for the gel that nerve cells can use to grow. The structure has been designed to be disintegrated 4-6 weeks later.

In any case, the nerves may have difficulty growing again, since after hurting the spinal cord an impenetrable stain can occur. This problem will be solved by adding enzymes that can break the stain.