{"72556":{"#nid":"72556","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Dopamine Used to Prompt Nerve Tissue to Regrow","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen Yadong Wang, a chemist by training, first ventured into nerve regeneration two years ago, he didn\u0027t know that his peers would have considered him crazy.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHis idea was simple: Because neural circuits use electrical signals often conducted by neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) to communicate between the brain and the rest of the body, he could build neurotransmitters into the material used to repair a broken circuit. The neurotransmitters could coax the neurons in the damaged nerves to regrow and reconnect with their target organ.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EStrange though his idea might have seemed to others in his field, Wang, an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, discovered that he could integrate dopamine, a type of neurotransmitter, into a polymer to stimulate nerve tissues to send out new connections. The discovery is the first step toward the eventual goal of implanting the new polymer into patients suffering from neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer\u0027s, Parkinson\u0027s or epilepsy, to help repair damaged nerves. The findings were published online the week of Oct. 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We showed that you could use a neurotransmitter as a building block of a polymer,\u0022 said Wang. \u0022Once integrated into the polymer, the transmitter can still elicit a specific response from nerve tissues.\u0022 \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe \u0027designer\u0027 polymer was recognized by the neurons when used on a small piece of nerve tissue and stimulated extensive neural growth. The implanted polymer didn\u0027t cause any tissue scarring or nerve degeneration, allowing the nerve to grow in a hostile environment post injury. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen ready for clinical use, the polymer would be implanted at the damaged site to promote nerve regeneration. As the nerve tissue reforms, the polymer degrades.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWang\u0027s team found that dopamine\u0027s structure, which contains two hydroxyl groups, is vital for the material\u0027s neuroactivity. Removing even one group caused a complete loss of the biological activity. They also determined that dopamine was more effective at differentiating nerve cells than the two most popular materials for culturing nerves  - polylysine and laminin. This ability means that the material with dopamine may have a better chance to successfully repair damaged\u003Cbr \/\u003Enerves.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe success of dopamine has encouraged the team to set its sights on other neurotransmitters.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Dopamine was a good starting point, but we are looking into other neurotransmitters as well,\u0022 Wang said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe team\u0027s next step is to verify findings that the material stimulates the reformation of synapses in addition to regrowth. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022A successful nerve regeneration will require the nerve to synapse with the target organ,\u0022 Wang said. \u0022Since we\u0027ve written this paper, we\u0027ve also been able to get the nerves to form extensive synapses, which is a step in the right direction.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Team led by Georgia Tech\/Emory researchers induces nerve growth using dopamine-based polymer"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"Georgia Tech\/Emory researchers have integrated dopamine, a type of neurotransmitter, into a polymer to stimulate nerve tissues to send out new connections. The discovery, published in PNAS, is the first step toward the eventual goal of implanting the polymer into patients suffering from neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer\u0027s, Parkinson\u0027s or epilepsy, to help repair damaged nerves.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"New polymer could help damaged nerve reconnect"}],"uid":"27281","created_gmt":"2006-11-02 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:02:18","author":"Lisa Grovenstein","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2006-11-02T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2006-11-02T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"72557":{"id":"72557","type":"image","title":"Nerve repair","body":null,"created":"1449177934","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:25:34","changed":"1475894661","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:21"}},"media_ids":["72557"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.bme.gatech.edu\/groups\/ywang\/","title":"Yadong Wang"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.bme.gatech.edu\/","title":"Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"249","name":"Biomedical Engineering"},{"id":"2606","name":"dopamine"},{"id":"2605","name":"nerve repair"},{"id":"2608","name":"neurotransmitter"},{"id":"2607","name":"Yadong Wang"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003ELisa Grovenstein\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=lgrovenste3\u0022\u003EContact Lisa Grovenstein\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-8835\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["lisa.grovenstein@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}