French Startup Uses Special Polymers to Better Help Nerves Heal
Roughly 500,000 Americans suffer nerve injuries that require treatment each year, whether from an errant attempt to hack out an avocado pit or an unfortunate woodworking accident. Many will never get full feeling back in their fingers. But a startup has developed a thick and sticky liquid that could change that, and it’s begun deploying it with surgeons in the US. French firm Tissium is working to replace and supplement medical stitches with a liquid that attaches to tissue when exposed to light. A biopolymer made of fatty acid and glycerol—both of which naturally occur in the body—the liquid acts like a splint to hold the nerves in place while the tissue mends itself. It then biodegrades after the body heals, leaving nerves intact. Peripheral nerves make up the sprawling network of the nervous system, branching off from the brain and the spinal cord to the rest of the body. When one is cut, often through injuries involving knives or machinery, the two ends need to be held in place while the nerve slowly repairs …
