Lab made organ implanted for first time
JonnyPistachio
Florida Posts: 10,219
This is awesome!
http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/07/07/tr ... ?hpt=hp_t2
Rather than waiting for a transplant, his doctors suggested growing an organ. Scientists created a Y-shaped framework for the new trachea, modeling it after the specific shape of the patient's windpipe.
The form was made of polymers that had a spongy and flexible texture. Stiff rings around the tube mimicked the structure of a human trachea.
The form was then bathed in a solution containing the patient's stem cells "to get the cells to grow on the sponge material," said David Green, president of Harvard Bioscience. Stem cells can divide and turn into a range of cell types, including those in organs.
This is the artificial trachea, covered in the patient's cells.
His company worked on the stem cell solution, which is seen as a pink liquid in the photo at left. The purpose was to "seed" the synthetic windpipe -- as you would seed a new lawn -- to grow on the structure.
"Stem cells from the own patient were growing inside and outside," Macchiarini said. "This structure was becoming a living structure."
The stem cells were given physical or chemical cues to create the desired type, Green said.
Once the cells were thriving on the form, the artificial trachea was implanted into the patient.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/07/07/tr ... ?hpt=hp_t2
Rather than waiting for a transplant, his doctors suggested growing an organ. Scientists created a Y-shaped framework for the new trachea, modeling it after the specific shape of the patient's windpipe.
The form was made of polymers that had a spongy and flexible texture. Stiff rings around the tube mimicked the structure of a human trachea.
The form was then bathed in a solution containing the patient's stem cells "to get the cells to grow on the sponge material," said David Green, president of Harvard Bioscience. Stem cells can divide and turn into a range of cell types, including those in organs.
This is the artificial trachea, covered in the patient's cells.
His company worked on the stem cell solution, which is seen as a pink liquid in the photo at left. The purpose was to "seed" the synthetic windpipe -- as you would seed a new lawn -- to grow on the structure.
"Stem cells from the own patient were growing inside and outside," Macchiarini said. "This structure was becoming a living structure."
The stem cells were given physical or chemical cues to create the desired type, Green said.
Once the cells were thriving on the form, the artificial trachea was implanted into the patient.
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Comments
if they can do that with stem cells, they should be able to come up with a viable implant for regenerating articular cartilage in an arthritic knee. they have implants that can help repair defects in the cartilage, but if they could do something with the patient's own cells, it would be the holy grail in orthopedic medicine.
we need to be funding this research, as it would potentially benefit every one of us.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."