A Tissue Engineering Approach to Helping Amputees

Researchers at the University of Michigan are working on improving prosthetic hands and restoring tactile sensations for those who have lost them. These findings are especially important for the US Department of Defense, which as put in a lot of money for this project in light of the sharp increase in injured soldiers due to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. These victims are usually fitted with a prosthetic device of some sort after their injury. The problem is that these devices were usually designed long back, before newer technologies (such as the one in my blog posting last month) were made available. These prosthetics can be hard to use and not have the full set of functions that a normally functioning hand would have.

When the human hand is amputated, the body will still continue to grow nerve endings, which will keep sending signals to the brain, though these signals will be misleading, which is why many amputees feel awkward sensations in their amputated regions, even though they are missing parts in those regions. Neuromuscular junctions are what the brain uses to communicate with the nerves. Using tissue engineering, researchers were able to create an artificial neuromuscular junction, which was able to create a muscle to nerve connection in the body. This research has not only shown that it is possible to improve the fine motor coordination when using prosthetics, but this nerve to muscle connection can greatly improve the communication between the body and this prosthetic, especially in way tactile sensations are communicated to the brain as well as other regulation that happens in the normal human hand. Based on the current rate of progress, researchers have estimated that this new technology can be tested in humans within the next three years, which is quite remarkable, as it was recently developed and tested in rat models in the lab.

This article is interesting because it is closely related to the article which I chose to cover last month. In that article, researchers in Europe were attempting to create an artificial robotic hand which could also “feel” things. In that case however, this feeling was to be done via complicated interfacing between pressure sensors in the hand as well as electrical signaling, which could be translated into the tactile. In this case, there is an alternative method which uses a more biologically natural approach in the sense that tissue engineering is used instead of the mechanical approach used in Europe. I personally do not know any soldiers who have had amputations, but I do know of people who have had to have amputations due to diseases such as cancer. Using this tissue engineering approach may greatly increase their quality of life and help them re experience the things which they lost.

Link:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091014122043.htm
Image:http://www.army.mil/-images/2008/07/11/19100/army.mil-2008-07-11-125419.jpg

Blesson John
VTPP 434-502