REASEARCHERS at the University of Glasgow are hoping to use tiny fabricated tubes to help damaged nerves heal themselves.

The scientists at the University's Centre for Cell Engineering and Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering will manufacture tiny polymer tubes with internal microscale patterns that they hope will help guide severed peripheral nerve cells back together.

If successful the team could greatly improve sensitivity and functionality in patients who have suffered peripheral nerve injury, which affects 500,000 people annually in Europe and can result in profound long-term disabilities.

Most injuries in working-age adults are as a result of trauma, or assault, but the most severe form, brachial plexus injury, may also afflict newborn babies as a result of complications during birth.

Andrew Hart, a plastic surgeon at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, is leading the four-year project with Dr Mathis Riehle of the Centre for Cell Engineering. He said: "We hope to develop a better way of connecting nerves to ensure that nerve regeneration is encouraged and so improve the chances of a better outcome in terms of functionality."

The peripheral nervous system connects the organs and skin to the spine and brain (the central nervous system) through nerve cells - neurons - which transmit either sensory or motor signals. These are bundled together in nerve trunks that snake throughout the body.