Breakthrough: "Bionic" Nerves! They Treat from Paralyzed Limbs to Impotence

One step further in turning the "Universal Soldier" into reality. A team at the University of Manchester and UK Center for Tissue Regeneration (UKCTR) led by Dr Paul Kingham has managed to turn fat tissue stem cells into nerve cells, with the potential of growing an artificial nerve that will revive paralyzed limbs and organs.

Isolated stem cells from the fat tissue of adult animals were differentiated into neurons employed for repairing and regenerating injured nerves. The team is going to begin the human trial extracting stem cells from fat tissue of human subjects and human and animal stem cells will be compared.

An artificial nerve made of biodegradable polymer will be used for transplanting the differentiated stem cells. The tube-like rolled biomaterial will be put in between the two ends of the cut nerve so that the regenerating nerve fiber can grow through it, connecting the cut ends.

The 'bionic' nerve would help people who suffered traumas to their limbs or organs, cancer patients whose tumor extirpation has touched a nearby nerve trunk and in cases of transplants and could be available in maximum five years.

"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." said Kingham.

"Furthermore, the technique of artificial nerve grafting could also be applicable when tumor mass has involved a nearby nerve trunk, which consequently has to be excised together with the tumor, such as the removal of a prostate tumor where damage to the nerve leads to male impotence." he added.

"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." said Professor Giorgio Terenghi, director of the UKCTR.

"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 tumors 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 favorable 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."

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