Despite recent advances in understanding the mechanisms of
nerve injury, tissue-engineering solutions for repairing damage in the central
nervous system (CNS) remain elusive, owing to the crucial and complex role
played by the neural stem cell (NSC) niche. This zone, in which stem cells are
retained after embryonic development for the production of new cells, exerts a
tight control over many crucial tasks such as growth promotion and the
recreation of essential biochemical and physical cues for neural cell
differentiation.
According to the first author of the paper, Zaida Álvarez,
from the Group on Biomaterials for Regenerative Therapies of the Institute for
Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), “in order to develop tissue-engineering
strategies to repair damage to the CNS, it is essential to design biomaterials
that closely mimic the NSC niche and its physical and biochemical
characteristics”.