Nerve-Insulating Cells (IMAGE)

Purdue University

Nerve-Insulating Cells

Caption

Researchers at Purdue have developed a technique using sugar filaments spun like cotton candy and coated with a polymer to create a scaffold of tiny synthetic tubes that might serve as conduits to regenerate nerves severed in accidents or damaged by disease. These images, taken with fluorescent-dyed samples, show nerve-insulating cells called Schwann cells (on left) growing on a tubule, and a combination of Schwann cells and neurons aligned lengthwise along the tubes (on right). This alignment is critical for the fast growth of nerves.

Credit

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, and the Center for Paralysis Research, Purdue University

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