LONDON, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- British researchers have transformed fat tissue stem cells into nerve cells and now plan to develop an artificial nerve that will bring damaged limbs and organs back to life.

A research team led by Paul Kingham at the UK Center for Tissue Regeneration (UKCTR) at the University of Manchester isolated the stem cells from the fat tissue of adult animals and differentiated them into nerve cells to be used for repair and regeneration of injured nerves, according to a press release issued Thursday by the University of Manchester.

The researchers are now to start a trial extracting stem cells from fat tissue of volunteer adult patients, in order to compare with the laboratory human and animal stem cells, it said.

They will then develop an artificial nerve constructed from a biodegradable polymer to transplant the differentiated stem cells. The biomaterial will be rolled up into a tube-like structure and inserted between the two ends of the cut nerve so that the regrowing nerve fiber can go through it from one end to the other.

This "bionic" nerve could also be used in people who have suffered trauma injuries to their limbs or organs, cancer patients whose tumor surgery has affected a nearby nerve trunk and people who have had organ transplants, the researcher said.

With a clinical trial on the biomaterial about to be completed, the researchers hope the treatment could be ready for use in four or five years.

According to the researchers, the differentiated stem cells have great potential for future clinical use, initially for treatment of patients with traumatic injuries of nerves in the arms and legs, and their work will also help to develop a similar surgical approach for organ transplant, to give full functional recuperation to the transplanted tissue.

The technique of artificial nerve grafting could also be applicable when tumor mass has involved a nearby nerve trunk, which consequently has to be excised together with the tumor, such as the removal of a prostate tumor where damage to the nerve leads to male impotence, they said.