For neurologists treating patients with neuro-degenerative diseases and spinal chord injuries, the greatest challenge is to find a reliable therapy to mend the damaged nerve or in some special cases to trigger regrowth of neurons. The prevalent strategy to stimulate growth of nerve cells involved a protein called laminin that acted as a backbone to a nerve cell stimulating chemical. Being water soluble, laminin would soon dissolve in the water inside the body.
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have arrived with a unique solution to regrow nerve cells. Christiane Gumera and Yadong Wang have shown in their study published in the latest issue of the journal Advanced Materials, that polymer coated with neurotransmitter acetylcholine can help regrow nerve cells.
The greatest advantage of inserting a polymer into the body is its ‘insoluble nature’, making it stay within the body for a longer time. Acetylcholine, the commonly occurring neurotransmitter, has the only drawback — excess of it in the body would be toxic and so is broken by enzymes as soon as they are detected.
In order to prevent acetylcholine from breaking-up, the researchers have attached biodegradable polyester to it to prevent enzymes from working on it and breaking it. The neurotransmitter is attached to the polymer that acts as a scaffolding to regrow the nerve cells.
This new advancement in biomedical engineering will go a long way in curing people with damaged nerves.
Source: technology review
