Bionic nerve grown from fat cells

Researchers have transformed fat tissue stem cells into nerve cells - and now plan to develop an artificial nerve that will bring damaged limbs and organs back to life.

Nerve cells differentiated from fat stem cells could be used for repairing damaged tissue

Dr Paul Kingham and his team at the UK Centre for Tissue Regeneration (UKCTR) in Manchester isolated stem cells from the fat tissue of adult animals and differentiated them into nerve cells to be used for repair and regeneration of injured nerves.

Dr Kingham said: “The differentiated stem cells have great potential for future clinical use, initially for treatment of patients with traumatic injuries of nerves in the arms and legs. This work will also help to develop a similar surgical approach for organ transplant, to give full functional recuperation to the transplanted tissue.”

The team are about to start a trial extracting stem cells from fat tissue of volunteer adult patients, in order to compare in the laboratory human and animal stem cells. Following that, they will develop an artificial nerve constructed from a biodegradable polymer to transplant the differentiated stem cells. The biomaterial will be rolled up into a tube-like structure and inserted between the two ends of the cut nerve so that the regrowing nerve fibre can go through it from one end to the other.

Director of the UKCTR, Professor Giorgio Terenghi said: “The current repair method - a patient donating their own nerve graft to span the gap at the injury site - is far from optimal because of the poor functional outcome, the extra damage and the possibility of forming scars and tumours at the donor site. Tissue engineering using a combination of biomaterials and cell-based therapies, while at an early stage, promises a great improvement on that. Artificial nerve guides provide mechanical support, protect the re-growing nerve and contain growth factor and molecules favourable to regeneration. The patient will not be able to tell that they had ever ‘lost’ their limb and will be able carry on exactly as they did before.”