I-Corps: Tissue-specific hydrogel for peripheral nerve repair

University Of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the ability to more effectively treat nerve injuries. Each year in the United States alone there are about 600,000 surgical procedures performed to reconstruct peripheral nerves, with costs of more than $1.7B. In moderate to severe cases of peripheral nerve injury, such as those involving nerve transections, stretch, or crush, long-term outcomes are poor. Disabilities due to nerve injury are associated with more than $7B in costs of long-term care for those affected. Add to this the economic costs of lost productivity of these individuals and the total costs are in excess of $15B per year. The proposed work seeks to further develop and validate a novel technology which can have a significant impact upon clinical care for nerve injury by both speeding and improving nerve repair. This I-Corps project is based upon multiple years of research demonstrating that peripheral nerve tissue derived hydrogels represent an ideal environment for nerve repair. Through multiple benchtop and preclinical tests, it has been shown that delivery of such hydrogels to a site of nerve repair modulates the inflammatory response to injury, recruits cells which are supportive of nerve repair, and ultimately supports the regrowth of neurons resulting in improved functional recovery. This solution has the potential to be used in multiple nerve injury modalities including nerve crush, stretch, transection, and gap injuries as either a primary treatment or as an adjunct to surgical repair and/or nerve grafting.