Implants placed on the spinal cord tend to rub against the tissue, causing inflammation and eventually rejection. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), led by Stéphanie Lacour and Grégoire Courtine, built a stretchable implant called e-dura to avoid this. It is made of silicone rubber with the same elasticity as the dura mater, the membrane that surrounds the spinal cord and brain. Electrodes for electrical stimulation and microchannels for drug delivery are built into it, and its gold wires contain microscopic cracks that let them stretch.
Over two months, healthy rats with an e-dura implant walked across a ladder as well as rats without one, while rats with a conventional plastic implant began to stumble and showed damaged spinal cords. When the e-dura was placed on the spinal cords of paralysed rats, a combination of drugs and electrical stimulation delivered through it allowed them to walk again. The team hopes to use the approach in people with spinal cord injuries.
via Flexible Spinal Implants Help Paralyzed Rats Walk Again | Scientific American