A hybrid approach for the control of axonal outgrowth

The possibility of controlling axonal outgrowth during neural regeneration could be very interesting from a neurobiological point of view. It could also allow the development of a new generation of sieve peripheral neural interfaces. They could create an intimate bi-directional link between the nervous system and artificial devices overcoming many of the limits of current interfaces and allowing the development of effective bionic systems. In this manuscript, simulations are presented investigating the possibility of guiding axons imposing them a desired trajectory by placing microspheres embedding chemical cues according to the information provided by the combination of a sinaptogenic model and of a genetic "model-free" algorithm.