Nerves that stretch

1994/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza

This image shows two cut nerves. In the lower nerve the two ends will never be joined, but on the top the two ends begin to stretch and join.

One of the hopes of neurology is to unite broken nerves. So far the affected people in the spinal cord have not been able to heal, but Ioannis V. Engineer Yannas has advanced a lot at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Yannas has invented a way to lengthen nerves. It supports a network of collagen fiber and complex sugar (called glycosamino-glika).

The net freezes into a very thin tube to form ice crystals. When these crystals evaporate pores or “holes” appear through which the affected nerves are extended. Subsequently, this network is removed by a collagen enzyme.

The results of mouse tests have not been quite good. The nerves have elongated well, but once joined the ends have not reached the pre-deterioration density and the number of electric pulses they carry is lower.

Mr. Yannas is perfecting his technique and has managed to extend his nerves up to 7.5 mm. and it seems that the best results are obtained when the pores of the network are the size of the nerve axon. Now we need to improve the technique and experiment with human beings.