GUIDANCE CHANNELS PROMOTE REGENERATION
Mary Bartlett Bunge, Ph.D. • Martin Oudega, Ph.D.

Using grafts that provide a supportive environment for nerve regeneration, researchers have made exciting progress toward designing cellular bridges that may restore communication between the brain and the spinal cord below an injury. Dr. Mary Bartlett Bunge and her collaborators have used semi-porous guidance channels to introduce Schwann cells into regions of spinal cord injury. She has shared her findings with other researchers in the field by reviewing the relative success of different strategies that have been tested. Though polymer guidance channels have proven very valuable in animal experiments, it is possible that a permanent channel could be problematic clinically in SCI repair.

Dr. Martin Oudega has been leading a collaborative team to test resorbable scaffolds (i.e., channels that provide a supportive environment that dissolves with time after regeneration has taken hold). Their findings show that the composition of the scaffolds is critical. Channels made of different lactic acid components were tested. Some formulations were vulnerable to collapse, which led to poor regeneration. Other tubes supported much more regeneration, but when they broke apart after two months, the newly grown nerves appeared to be damaged. The researchers are continuing to collaborate with biomaterials experts to explore polymer formulas that have mechanical and chemical compositions that are more appropriate for spinal cord repair.