Other teams have shown that delivering an enzyme from bacteria that digests scar tissue may help.

"The problem has been this enzyme is really sensitive and degrades very fast," says Bellamkonda.

He says the enzyme, chondroitinase ABC (chABC), is heat sensitive and must be repeatedly injected or infused into the body to work.
Hollow straws

Bellamkonda's team found a way to overcome both of those issues. They mixed the enzyme with a sugar called trehalose that made it stable at internal body temperature.

And instead of injecting the enzyme into the spinal cord, they put it into tiny hollow straws just twice the length of a single cell. They inject these at the injury site in a special gel that keeps the straws in place.

Bellamkonda's team tested the system in rats and found the enzyme prevented scar tissue formation for up to six weeks.

"The goal is that at the time the surgeon is removing the offending (vertebrae) bone after the injury you would inject this gel to si