AN IMPLANTABLE DEVICE FOR THE REPAIR OF THE INJURED NERVOUS SYSTEM

THIS PROPOSAL WILL TEST THE FEASIBILITY OF A DEVICE BEING DEVLOPED AT AMERICAN BIOINTERFACE CORPORATION TO FACILITATE REGENERATION IN THE SEVERLY DAMAGED MAMMALIAN NERVOUS SYSTEM. SELECTED ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL, BIOCHEMICAL, MORPHOMETRIC AND BEHAVIORAL PARAMETERS WILL BE ASSESSED IN THE INJURED RAT SCIATIC NERVE MODEL. THE RESULTS OF SUCH EXPERIMENTS WILL BE OF CONSIDERABLE SIGNIFICANCE TO THE SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES INVESTIGATING THE BASIC MECHANISMS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GROWTH AND REGENERATION OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. THE RESULTS WILL ALSO BE OF GREAT MEDICAL SIGNIFICANCE, FOR SUCH DATA WILL SERVE AS THE SCIENTIFIC FRAMEWORK FOR FUTURE CONTROLLED CLINICAL TRIALS OF THE DEVICE IN MAN. INDEED, THE LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE OF AMERICAN BIOINTERFACE CORPORATION IS TO CONTINUE AND EXTEND THE PRESENT RESEARCH INTO MAN, AND THEREBY CLINICALLY PROVE THE SAFETY AND EFFICACY OF THE DEVICE IN THE REPAIR OF THE INJURED PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. COMMERCIAL ACCEPTANCE OFAN APPROVED AND MARKETED DEVICE IS ASSURED AMONG THE MEDICALCOMMUNITY AS THERE ARE AT PRESENT NO APPROVED DEVICES DESIGNED FOR THE RECOVERY OF FUNCTION FOLLOWING NERVE INJURY. THE FULL TECHNOLOGICAL POTENTIAL OF THE DEVICE MAY WELL BE REALIZED IN AREAS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM WHERE REGENERATION AND RECOVERY AFTER INJURY HAS CLASSICALLY ASSUMED TO BE IMPOSSIBLE.