3-D Printed Guide for Regrowing Nerves
November 24, 2015 | Terry Sharrer
This piece describes a nerve regeneration technique that may be a long way from clinical reality, or maybe not. Researchers at the University of Minnesota used 3-D printing to create a conduit that reconnected a severed sciatic nerve in rats. First they mapped out the geometry of the nerve, which has both sensory and motor branches, and fed that data into printer that put down layers of tube-shaped silicon. Growth promoting molecules in each branch stimulated the pieces to reconnect. While these engineers estimate that it might be a decade before this technology is ready for human clinical trials, they may be underestimating “market demand” from “Wounded Warriors” to hurry developments along. MORE
https://twin-cities.umn.edu/