Disappearing Act

When nerves are damaged, a little shock to the system can them help to heal. Stimulating nerve endings with electrical impulses during surgery boosts regeneration, but until recently there was no way to continue this type of therapy as patients recover. Now a team of scientists has designed a paper-thin bioelectronic implant (in silver, with nerves shown in yellow, in the model) wirelessly controlled to deliver regular electrical impulses to injured nerves. In rats, stimulation with this system over several days enhanced regeneration of the sciatic nerve, suggesting that longer-term stimulation can speed up recovery. Remarkably, the device is fully biodegradable, dissolving harmlessly so no second operation is required to remove it, with components that can be adjusted to control how long it stays active for. Next steps include identifying how much stimulation yields maximum benefits, refining a technique that could eventually have far-reaching impacts on the treatment of injury.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

• Image from work by Jahyun Koo and colleagues, Northwestern University
• Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
• Image copyright held by the original authors
• Research published in Nature Medicine, October 2018