A British medical start-up has accomplished what is believed to be a world first by harnessing spider silk to regenerate damaged nerve tissue in humans.
Newrotex, founded by NHS trauma and orthopaedic surgeon Dr Alex Woods, conducted a trial with five patients whose severed leg nerves were repaired using silk strands as a biological scaffold.
All participants regained feeling in previously numb areas, while one patient also recovered the ability to move, The Times reports.
The preliminary findings are "especially exciting" because the nerve damage was extensive enough that healing would typically be impossible, according to Dr Woods
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Though ancient physicians employed spider webs for wound treatment, this marks the first known use of the material to restore human nerve function.
Dr Woods, who combines his surgical career with a background in zoology, describes the technique using a simple analogy: "Spider silk acts like a scaffold for nerves to grow along, like a rose on a trellis."
Following nerve damage, the body attempts self-repair by generating new fibres across the injured area. However, this regeneration proceeds at approximately one millimetre daily and requires structural support.
The natural collagen scaffold produced by the body deteriorates within roughly ten days. When gaps exceed about a centimetre, reconnection frequently fails.
The silk of the female golden orb web spider is used as a 'scaffold'
|WIKICOMMONS
Spider silk provides a more durable alternative. Surgeons thread approximately a thousand silk strands through a hollow tube fashioned from the patient's own vein, then stitch this assembly between the severed nerve ends.
The silk supports regrowing nerve cells before eventually dissolving without harm.
The raw material originates from an Oxford laboratory where 30 female golden orb-web spiders reside in individual terrariums. Conditions replicate their native Madagascan forest habitat through elevated temperature and humidity.
Each spider can produce up to four kilometres of silk throughout her life, generating sufficient material for roughly 20 implants over six to nine months.
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Each golden orb-web spider can produce up to four kilometres of silk throughout her life
|WIKICOMMONS
The silk possesses extraordinary physical properties, measuring approximately five times stronger than steel by weight and matching Kevlar's toughness whilst retaining flexibility.
Beyond mechanical strength, the material offers crucial biological advantages. It appears to stimulate production of neural cell adhesion molecule, a protein that enhances nerve regrowth.
The silk also triggers minimal immune response and resists bacterial attachment, making it particularly suitable for deep tissue implantation.
The inaugural human trial took place in Panama, involving four patients undergoing nerve biopsies that would normally cause permanent sensory loss, plus a fifth patient with a substantial tumour affecting the tibial nerve in his leg.
The nerve gaps treated measured between eight and ten centimetres. Six months post-surgery, all five patients have regained sensation, and the tumour patient has resumed walking.
Dr Woods developed the project from frustrations encountered during surgical training, where severe nerve injuries from accidents and trauma often yield poor outcomes despite best efforts.
Newrotex has secured approximately £3.5million through grants and early investment but requires a further £10million for expanded clinical trials in Britain and the United States necessary for regulatory approval.
Should those trials prove successful, spider-silk nerve implants could reach patients by 2028.
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