Neuroscientists are always studying something, and this time it’s spiders and how they can change our lives, for the better.
The research is shedding light on how spider silk, one of nature’s most incredible materials, could revolutionize the way we treat nerve damage.
Some people get nerve damage from accidents, injuries, or even surgeries, while others get nerve damage from health conditions, such as diabetes.
When the nerves are damaged, they can’t send signals properly between the brain and body. This can cause numbness, tingling, weakness, or even complete loss of movement and feeling in parts of the body.
Imagine not being able to lift your arm, feel your fingers, or move your leg—that’s the reality for many people with severe nerve damage.
And, unfortunately, treating nerve damage isn’t easy.
Unlike skin or bone, nerves don’t heal well on their own. Current treatments use synthetic materials or grafts to help nerves regrow, but these often lead to problems like inflammation or rejection by the body.
But one particular type of spider silk, called dragline silk, has scientists especially excited.
Dragline silk is the main type of thread that spiders use to build the frame of their webs and as lifelines when they move.
It’s incredibly strong—stronger than steel by weight—and highly elastic, making it perfect for medical applications where durability and flexibility are crucial.
In a 2023 study by Advanced Healthcare Materials, researchers developed tubes made from silkworm silk and filled them with spider dragline silk fibers.
When tested on rats with damaged sciatic nerves, these silk tubes helped the nerve cells grow back across the damaged area.
The results were promising: the silk structures supported nerve regeneration, leading to significant improvements in healing.
And being biocompatible, spider silk blends into the body’s natural processes, providing a temporary pathway for nerve cells to reconnect and then breaking down safely once the repair is done.
Despite its promising potential, there are challenges that stop spider silk from being widely used in medicine today.
The main issue is that producing spider silk on a large scale is incredibly difficult.
Spider silk can be harvested from live spiders, but the process involves carefully restraining the spider and manually extracting the silk, which is time-consuming and can only produce a very small amount at a time.
The following video shows how spider silk is collected from a Golden Orb Weaver
And unlike silkworms, spiders can’t be farmed easily because they are territorial and often cannibalistic, which means trying to harvest silk from them in large numbers would involve sacrificing the spiders themselves—a process that is neither efficient nor humane. (Here are 11 of the weirdest ways spiders die, without being farmed)
Scientists are working on bioengineering solutions, such as using genetically modified bacteria or plants to produce spider silk proteins, but these methods are still under development and not yet scalable for medical use.
With further research and trials, spider silk could become a common tool in nerve repair surgeries, potentially allowing patients to heal more naturally and with fewer complications.
