Artificial Organs No Longer Science Fiction

liver411

Artificial Organs No Longer Science Fiction April 26, 2002 8:00 CDT Of the 23,000 Americans who needed a liver last year, only 5000 got one. Eighty thousand people currently wait for kidneys, livers or hearts. Artificial organs, which can be grown from the patient's own cells, would relieve these waiting lists while solving the problem of organ rejection. According to a recent report by New Scientist, Jay Vacanti at Massachusetts General Hospital has teamed up with Jeffrey Borenstein at the nearby Draper Lab, and they have already successfully grown a human ear on the back of a mouse. New breakthroughs in the duo's research are moving them closer to producing an artificial liver. Until now, researchers have only been able to make simple tissue, such as cartilage and skin. It hasn't been possible to grow deeper networks of blood vessels which complex organs need to survive. Vacanti and Borenstein have demonstrated that this can now be done. Simple body tissue, such as cartilage, is started by using a shaped, porous scaffold made from a biodegradable plastic. Then the plastic scaffold is seeded by dipping it into a solution of the patient's cells, after which it is immersed in a nutrient solution. [ This page was updated by liver411 on 2002-04-29.12:55:52. ]