Implant could encourage healing after spinal cord injury

Researchers at Ireland’s RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences have developed an electroconductive implant that may have the potential to encourage nerve cell (neuron) repair after spinal cord injury. The implant has been described in the journal Materials Today.

Spinal cord injury is a devastating and often paralysing condition. One person suffers a spinal cord injury every week in Ireland, and there are over 2300 individuals and families living with spinal cord injury across Ireland. After injury, the long axonal projections of nerve cells are cut and ‘die back’ from the injury site, and at the same time a lesion or gap forms at the wound site that prevents their regrowth, necessary to restore function.

To address this problem, the research team at RCSI’s Tissue Engineering Research Group (TERG) and the SFI Centre for Advanced Materials and Bioengineering Research (AMBER) at Trinity College Dublin developed an implantable, electroconductive 3D-printed scaffold that can be placed directly into the injury site, bridging the gap. When electrical stimulation is applied to the implant, it can convey that electrical signal to boost the regrowth of the injured axons. At the same time, the scaffolding and channels of the implant are designed to act as a bridge and direct the axons to grow back in the correct formation.

“Bridging the lesion with an electroconductive biomaterial designed to mimic the structure of the spinal cord, combined with the application of electrical stimulation, may help injured neurons regrow their axons and reconnect to restore function,” said Professor Fergal O’Brien, who is Head of TERG and Deputy Director of AMBER.

“No such platform exists to date.”

The researchers saw promising results when they put the implant to the test in the lab, according to first author Liam Leahy.

“We could see that when we applied electrical stimulation for a week to neurons growing on this scaffold, they developed long, healthy extensions called neurites,” said Leahy, a PhD candidate at RCSI. “In the body, this kind of growth would be a key step towards repair and recovery after an injury.”

O’Brien concluded, “To date, it has been extremely difficult to promote the regrowth of neurons after spinal cord injury, which is a major obstacle in the development of successful treatments for such debilitating injuries. Our research here represents a promising new approach.”

Image credit: iStock.com/nopparit