The Institute of Physiology, a Japanese natural science research institute, issued a bulletin saying that a team of researchers from the Institute had developed a biomaterial, which was observed in animal experiments to promote the migration of newborn neurons in rats with brain damage and improve the motor dysfunction caused by brain damage. The communique said that after the birth of mammals, new neurons continue to be produced in specific parts of the brain. In case of brain injury, new neurons can migrate to the damaged site and promote the repair of brain function. However, due to the lack of sufficient cells to play the "scaffold" function to guide the efficient migration of newborn neurons, the naturally occurring migration of newborn neurons is not ideal in improving the dysfunction caused by brain injury. A team of researchers from the Japanese Institute of Physiology has developed a supramolecular biomaterial, which contains the extracellular domain of neurocadherin, a cell adhesion molecule that promotes the migration of newborn neurons. When this liquid material is injected into the brain damaged part, its molecules will gather near the injection part, forming a fibrous structure and turning into a gel. Researchers have observed through mouse experiments that this new biomaterial can not only promote the migration of newborn neurons to the damaged part of the brain surface, but also promote their migration to the damaged part of the deep brain. Researchers believe that this biomaterial can provide support for the continuous migration of new neurons in the brain for a period of time. One month after the brain injury mice were injected with biomaterials, the researchers evaluated the repair of the injury and found that the injected biomaterials had been decomposed, and there were many mature neurons differentiated from newborn neurons near the brain surface of the severely injured mice. The researchers also found that the walking function of the brain injury rats injected with this biomaterial recovered to the same level as that of the healthy rats. Relevant papers have been published in the new issue of international journal Biomaterials. The communique said that this study has successfully used new supramolecular biomaterials to promote the migration of newborn neurons in mice with brain injury. If similar technologies can be used to form a support point containing other cell adhesion molecules in the organism, it is expected to be used to treat diseases other than brain injury. (Xinhua News Agency)