3D carbon nanotube meshJUMMI LAISHRAM The technique: Sections of spinal tissue placed 1 to 2 millimeters apart in a culture dish can reconnect their neurons with the help of an intervening carbon nanotube matrix, according to a study published today (July 15) in Science Advances. The 3-D matrix is also well tolerated when inserted into rat brains, the authors reported.
“The important thing about the paper is that, for the first time, it shows that a three-dimensional scaffold of the carbon nanotubes can really improve the connection between two networks in the spinal cord . . . in comparison with 2-D nanotubes or other 3-D networks,” said neuroscientist Jürg Streit of the University of Bern, Switzerland, who was not involved in the study.
The background: Immediately after a spinal cord injury, “there will be a scar that will physically block any kind of reconnection of the [original] fibers,” explained neurophysiologist Fabio Benfenati of the Italian Institute of Technology in Genova who also did not participate in the study. But researchers believe they might be able to circumvent such lesions. The idea is to induce the ...
