Dopamine--Polymer Implant Stimulates Rapid Nerve Growth

Scientists at Georgia Tech have discovered how to stimulate rapid nerve growth in tissue culture, using a polymer with dopamine impregnated into it. This method may offer hope for nerve regeneration in patients with Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and other neuro-degenerative conditions.

Because neural circuits use electrical signals often conducted by neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) to communicate between the brain and the rest of the body, he (Ya Dong Wang) could build neurotransmitters into the material used to repair a broken circuit. The neurotransmitters could coax the neurons in the damaged nerves to regrow and reconnect with their target organ.

Strange though his idea might have seemed to others in his field, Wang, an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, discovered that he could integrate dopamine, a type of neurotransmitter, into a polymer to stimulate nerve tissues to send out new connections. The discovery is the first step toward the eventual goal of implanting the new polymer into patients suffering from neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s or epilepsy, to help repair damaged nerves. The findings were published online the week of Oct. 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

“We showed that you could use a neurotransmitter as a building block of a polymer,” said Wang. “Once integrated into the polymer, the transmitter can still elicit a specific response from nerve tissues.”

The “designer” polymer was recognized by the neurons when used on a small piece of nerve tissue and stimulated extensive neural growth. The implanted polymer didn’t cause any tissue scarring or nerve degeneration, allowing the nerve to grow in a hostile environment post injury.

When ready for clinical use, the polymer would be implanted at the damaged site to promote nerve regeneration. As the nerve tissue reforms, the polymer degrades.

Read more at Source.

This is an interesting experiment, illustrating that there are still many new uses to which commonplace biochemicals can be put. The combination of dopamine with an unnamed polymer apparently has effects no one predicted. How many other everyday biochemicals, when combined with polymers, nanostructures, or other modifying agents, have the capacity to perform similar useful functions? Time will tell.