Neural tissue scaffolds could help future stroke patients

It is hoped that small fragments of these ‘loaded’ polymers could eventually be transplanted into patients with conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, as well as potentially for spinal injuries and stroke.

Early clinical trials in primates and humans have shown that injecting a solution of neural cells directly into the brain shows some benefit for degenerative conditions. However, the approach simply relies on neurons fortuitously finding their correct position and then integrating.

‘By injecting them you put a lot of stresses on them, so a lot of them die,’ project lead Dr Frederik Claeyssens of Sheffield University told The Engineer. Many of those that survive don’t actually stay at the injury site, added Claeyssens.

Tissue scaffolds are one potential solution and have become increasingly commonplace in regenerative medicine for things such as bone, cartilage and skin. However, neural tissue presents an altogether greater challenge for researchers.

‘They [neurons] have a whole architecture of support cells surrounding them in a precise geometrical alignment, which is difficult to replicate,’ said project collaborator Maria Farsari of the Foundation for Research and Technology (Hellas) in Greece.