Neural tissue engineering is a specific sub-field of tissue engineering

Tissue engineering

Tissue engineering is the use of a combination of cells, engineering and materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physio-chemical factors to improve or replace biological functions...

. Neural tissue engineering is primarily a search for strategies to eliminate inflammation and fibrosis upon implantation of foreign substances. Often foreign substances in the form of grafts and scaffolds are implanted to promote nerve regeneration

Nerve regeneration

Neuroregeneration refers to the regrowth or repair of nervous tissues, cells or cell products. Such mechanisms may include generation of new neurons, glia, axons, myelin, or synapses. Neuroregeneration differs between the peripheral nervous system and the central nervous system by the functional...

 and to repair damage caused to nerves of both the peripheral and central nervous systems by an injury.

Another situation that calls for implanting a foreign tissue is use of recording electrode

Electrode

An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit...

s. Chronic Electrode Implants

Chronic Electrode Implants

Chronic Electrode Implants are electronic devices implanted into the brain. They may record electrical impulses in the brain or they may stimulate neurons with electrical impulses from an external source.- Clinical applications and direction :...

 are a tool currently used in research applications to record signals from regions of the cerebral cortex

Cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex is a sheet of neural tissue that is outermost to the cerebrum of the mammalian brain. It plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, and consciousness. It is constituted of up to six horizontal layers, each of which has a different...

. This technology may someday allow scientists to use the signals generated in the brain to control the limbs or prostheses of paralyzed patients.