Injuries to the peripheral nerves-those linking the central nervous system to the arms and legs of the body-lead to a loss of sensation and function in 1 in 1000 people.

A detergent solution developed at The University of Texas at Austin that treats donor nerve grafts to circumvent an immune rejection response has been used to create acellular nerve grafts now used successfully in hospitals around the country. Research also shows early promise of the detergent solution having possible applications in spinal cord repair.

Researchers at Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England, San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan and Cancer Research UK, have for first time identified protein that is key to regeneration of damage in peripheral nervous system and which could with further research lead to understanding diseases of our peripheral nervous systems and provide clues to methods of repairing damage in central nervous system, according to paper published this week in Journal of Cell Biology.

Mayo Clinic physicians have adapted real-time 3-D ultrasound imaging devices -- including one designed to look at an infant’s heart -- so that they can watch as they use a needle filled with anesthetic to numb individual nerves located inches under the skin.