Growing new parts

[Joaz Banbeck]

A minor milestone has been reached in the field of medicine. For the first time, an organ has been created entirely from the patient's own cells, with no donor required, and then successully transplanted.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/07/07/tr ... ?hpt=hp_t2

[Numsgil]

It's pretty cool, but what happens with the artificial structure they grew the cells on? Does it dissolve or is it a permanent part of the new trachea? How do they hook up the blood supply?

[Joaz Banbeck]

It's pretty cool, but what happens with the artificial structure they grew the cells on? Does it dissolve or is it a permanent part of the new trachea? How do they hook up the blood supply?

I infer that the artificial structure is the blood supply. In other words, the scaffolding is the pattern of desired blood vessels. The cells are grown around it. It is not clear to me if they are hollow tubes with porous walls that are left in place, or if they are solid and removed by a solvent after growth.

From another source:
"Researchers at the University of Minnesota Center for Cardiovascular Repair have successfully created a beating heart using the outer structure of one heart and injecting heart cells from another rat. The technique, called whole organ decellularization, could be used in a similar process to create a replacement heart for humans in need of a heart transplant.

The scientists first used detergents and other chemicals to wash out all the old heart cells from rat and pig hearts, leaving a scaffold of tubes that once were the organ’s blood vessels. Stem cells were then injected into the scaffold, where they were supplied with nutrients, allowing them to grow and create a new organ. Within eight days, the hearts were effectively pumping."

[Numsgil]

Ah, that's interesting. Makes me think most of the effort involved here was constructing a suitable scaffold.

[cyclops]

new brains for me, pls