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Concept
Neural tissue engineering
Résumé
Neural tissue engineering is a specific sub-field of tissue engineering. Neural tissue engineering is primarily a search for strategies to eliminate inflammation and fibrosis upon implantation of foreign substances. Often foreign substances in the form of grafts and scaffolds are implanted to promote nerve regeneration and to repair damage caused to nerves of both the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) by an injury.
The nervous system is divided into two sections: the CNS and the PNS. The CNS consists of the brain and the spinal cord, while the PNS consists of nerves that originate from the brain and spinal cord and innervate the rest of the body.
The need for neural tissue engineering arises from the difficulty of the nerve cells and neural tissues to regenerate on their own after neural damage has occurred. The PNS has some, but limited, regeneration of neural cells. Adult stem cell neurogenesis in the CNS has been found to occur in the hippocampus, the subventricular zone (SVZ), and spinal cord. CNS injuries can be caused by stroke, neurodegenerative disorders, trauma, or encephalopathy. A few methods currently being investigated to treat CNS injuries are: implanting stem cells directly into the injury site, delivering morphogens to the injury site, or growing neural tissue in vitro with neural stem or progenitor cells in a 3D scaffold. Proposed use of electrospun polymeric fibrous scaffolds for neural repair substrates dates back to at least 1986 in a NIH SBIR application from Simon. For the PNS, a severed nerve can be reconnected and reinnervated using grafts or guidance of the existing nerve through a channel.
Recent research into creating miniature cortexes, known as corticopoiesis, and brain models, known as cerebral organoids, are techniques that could further the field of neural tissue regeneration. The native cortical progenitors in corticopoiesis are neural tissues that could be effectively embedded into the brain.
Source officielle
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