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Bioprinted spinal implant enables nerve cells to reconnect

Hopefully nerve grafts will become as common as skin grafts one day

14-Jan-2019

Key points from article :

UC San Diego has bio-printed a section of spinal cord in rats.

Could be custom-fit to a patient’s injury.

Small implants made of softgel 3D printed and filled with neural stem cells.

Surgically placed inside a tiny gap in the spinal cord.

New nerve cells and axons grew, forming connections across the gap.

Also connected with the hosts spinal cord tissue and the circulatory systems.

Cells that create scar tissue were reoriented.

The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Mentioned in this article:

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Nature Medicine

Scientific Journal providing information from all areas of medicine.

Shaochen Chen

Professor and Chair of NanoEngineering Department at University of California San Diego.

Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM)

Research institute affiliated with Wake Forest School of Medicine.

Topics mentioned on this page:
3D Printing