Editing Openai/69120bcf-c5e0-8006-b30b-9e2000a45977 (section)

=== Assistant: Awesome—here are rigorously sourced items you can cite, each with a plain-English summary and a quick note on CRPS/neur… ===
Awesome—here are rigorously sourced items you can cite, each with a plain-English summary and a quick note on CRPS/neuropathic-pain relevance.

===== 1) MIT: making hydrogels more “injectable” =====

Source: MIT News: computational framework to design granular hydrogels for tissue repair. MIT News<ref>{{cite web|title=MIT News|url=https://news.mit.edu/2023/hydrogels-blocks-injectable-tissue-repair-0131|publisher=MIT News|access-date=2025-11-11}}</ref>
Summary: MIT describes a method to better design granular (shear-thinning) hydrogels so they can be pushed through a needle and then re-solidify as a supportive scaffold. It’s a platform for many tissues, not a finished nerve-regeneration drug.
CRPS relevance: Platform could someday deliver anti-inflammatories/neuromodulators locally to nerves, but no CRPS clinical data.

===== 2) MIT thesis: injectable hydrogels for spinal cord injury (SCI) =====

Source: MIT DSpace master’s thesis + full PDF. DSpace<ref>{{cite web|title=DSpace|url=https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/98723|publisher=dspace.mit.edu|access-date=2025-11-11}}</ref>
Summary: Early MIT work exploring injectable hydrogels as delivery vehicles (e.g., for cells/drugs) in rodent SCI models—aimed at improving survival of therapeutic cargo and filling cavities.
CRPS relevance: Conceptually relevant for targeted delivery; still preclinical and focused on SCI, not peripheral neuropathic pain.

===== 3) Field review: “Injectable Hydrogels for Nervous Tissue Repair — A Brief Review” (2024) =====

Source: Open-access review covering CNS & PNS models. PMC<ref>{{cite web|title=PMC|url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10970171/|publisher=pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov|access-date=2025-11-11}}</ref>
Summary: Surveys many hydrogel chemistries (hyaluronic acid, collagen, PEG, self-healing systems) used as scaffolds or controlled-release depots. Most evidence = cell/animal studies; translation hurdles include immune response, degradation, and functional recovery variability.
CRPS relevance: Strongest near-term use would be localized drug delivery to inflamed/damaged nerves; no evidence yet for reversing established CRPS.

===== 4) Preclinical study: self-healing hyaluronic-acid hydrogel for SCI (2024) =====

Source: PubMed record of animal study. PubMed<ref>{{cite web|title=PubMed|url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38408580/|publisher=pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov|access-date=2025-11-11}}</ref>
Summary: An HA-based, self-healing hydrogel filled post-injury cavities and improved tissue repair and motor outcomes in animals after SCI.
CRPS relevance: Shows that injectable gels can improve function in animals when placed at the injury; still far from a single injection that restores human sensation/motor function, and not studied in CRPS.

===== 5) Broad reviews on hydrogel therapy for SCI (2023–2025) =====

Sources: Open-access overviews on hydrogel mechanisms, delivery roles, and clinical obstacles. PMC<ref>{{cite web|title=PMC|url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11236698/|publisher=pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov|access-date=2025-11-11}}</ref>
Summary: Converging view: hydrogels are promising as biomimetic scaffolds and drug/cell carriers; translation is ongoing; complete functional restoration is not typical in current data.
CRPS relevance: Points to future possibilities for localized, sustained delivery of anti-inflammatory or neurotrophic agents to painful nerves.

===== 6) MIT spinout Tissium: suture-free nerve repair polymer (clinical/device) =====

Sources: Company press on clinical results; ClinicalTrials.gov; MIT News feature (2025); independent biomechanical/feasibility paper (open access). PMC<ref>{{cite web|title=PMC|url=https://tissium.com/press/tissium-announces-clinical-results-of-coaptium-connect-system-for-atraumatic-sutureless-nerve-repair/|publisher=tissium.com|access-date=2025-11-11}}</ref>
Summary: Tissium’s light-activated, bioresorbable polymer is used by surgeons to coapt (join) transected peripheral nerves without sutures. It’s a surgical adjunct/device, not a simple restorative “injection.” FDA De Novo authorization for their digital-nerve system was announced in 2025; early studies report technical success, with ongoing evaluation of outcomes.
CRPS relevance: For CRPS secondary to nerve trauma, better nerve coaptation might reduce neuroma/neuropathic pain risk in some cases—but this is repair at surgery, not a cure-all, and isn’t a gel that regrows nerves after the fact.

==== Bottom line ====
* There is credible MIT/adjacent work on injectable hydrogels and an MIT spinout advancing nerve-repair polymers.
* None of these sources support the viral claim that MIT has a one-shot injectable gel that regrows nerves and fully restores sensation/motor function across paralysis/spinal injury/chronic pain. Evidence today is preclinical or surgical-device focused.

If you’d like, tell me which of the above you want in more depth (e.g., #3 and #4), and I’ll pull short, readable summaries (aimed at clinicians or patient-advocates) plus key figures/quotes you can share in your CRPS group.