Feeding the Schwanns: new technique could bring cell therapy for nerve damage a step closer

A new way to grow cells vital for nerve repair, developed by researchers from the University of Sheffield, could be a vital step for use in patients with severe nerve damage, including spinal injury. 

The Sheffield team, led by Professor John Haycock, has developed a new technique, using adult rat tissue, which can produce Schwann cells in less than half the time and at much lower cost than currently possible.

“The ability of Schwann cells to boost nerve growth was proved many years ago in animals, but if you want to use this technique with patients, the problem is: where do you get enough cells from?” said Professor Haycock, from the University’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Kroto Research Institute.

The research, published in Nature Protocols, uses an amino acid that only the Schwann cells can break down and feed off, and are able to produce a 97 per cent pure population of Schwann cells in a much shorter space of time – just 19 days – from a small sample of adult tissue.

Professor Haycock is confident the technique can be replicated in humans. His team are trialling the same method using human nerve tissue, with results expected within the next six months.

The image shows Schwann cells grown on aligned polycaprolactone microfibres in a study to develop scaffolds for peripheral nerve tissue engineering. The Schwann cells were obtained using the technique developed by Professor Haycock’s group.

Thank you to researcher Muhammad FB Daud for providing the image

The full media release can be viewed using the link below:

www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/nerve-cells-repair-schwann-sheffield-university-1.215678

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