If only Dr. Frankenstein had held out a little longer. ;)
Posted on 04/04/2011 7:29:29 AM PDT by topher
Live human heart grown in lab using stem cells in potential transplant breakthrough
By David Derbyshire
Last updated at 12:22 PM on 4th April 2011
Breakthrough: Scientists are hopeful their artificial heart will be beating within days
Scientists are growing human hearts in laboratories, offering hope for millions of cardiac patients.
American researchers believe the artificial organs could start beating within weeks.
The experiment is a major step towards the first ‘grow-your-own’ heart, and could pave the way for livers, lungs or kidneys to be made to order.
The organs were created by removing muscle cells from donor organs to leave behind tough hearts of connective tissue.
Researchers then injected stem cells which multiplied and grew around the structure, eventually turning into healthy heart cells.
Dr Doris Taylor, an expert in regenerative medicine at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, said: ‘The hearts are growing, and we hope they will show signs of beating within the next weeks.
‘There are many hurdles to overcome to generate a fully functioning heart, but my prediction is that it may one day be possible to grow entire organs for transplant.’
Patients given normal heart transplants must take drugs to suppress their immune systems for the rest of their lives.
This can increase the risk of high blood pressure, kidney failure and diabetes.
If new hearts could be made using a patient’s own stem cells, it is less likely they would be rejected.
The lab-grown organs have been created using these types of cells – the body’s immature ‘master cells’ which have the ability to turn into different types of tissue. The experiment follows a string of successes for researchers trying to create spare body parts for transplants.
In 2007, British doctors grew a human heart valve using stem cells taken from a patient’s bone marrow.
HOW TO GROW YOUR OWN HEART
•The donor heart is removed from the body; pig hearts may also be suitable.
•Detergents are then used to strip the cells from the heart leaving behind the protein skeleton or 'ghost heart'.
•Stem cells grown from cells taken from a patient are then added to the ghost heart.
•The stem cells then multiply and generate new heart cells. now all that is left is the hope that these will start beating.
.A year later, scientists grew a beating animal heart for the first time.
Dr Taylor’s team have already created beating rat and pig hearts. Although they were too weak to be used in animals, the work was an important step towards tailor-made organs.
In their latest study, reported at the American College of Cardiology’s annual conference in New Orleans, researchers created new organs using human hearts taken from dead bodies.
The scientists stripped the cells from the dead hearts with a powerful detergent, leaving ‘ghost heart’ scaffolds made from the protein collagen.
The ghost hearts were then injected with millions of stem cells, which had been extracted from patients and supplied with nutrients.
The stem cells ‘recognised’ the collagen heart structure and began to turn into heart muscle cells.
The hearts have yet to start beating – but if they do, they could be strong enough to pump blood.
However, the race to create a working heart faces many obstacles.
One of the biggest is getting enough oxygen to the organ through a complex network of blood vessels. Scientists also need to ensure the heart cells beat in time.
Dr Taylor told the Sunday Times: ‘We are a long way off creating a heart for transplant, but we think we’ve opened a door to building any organ for human transplant.’
Can they grow me some new hair?
Live human heart grown in lab using stem cells in potential transplant breakthrough
“Go Chicken Heart, Go!”
There is more need for lab grown kidneys.
Wow, sounds like they found the silver bullet!
Take a claw from a crab and it grows back. Someday we will figure out how to do the same with a human arm. So many more wonders to discover.
True, but hearts are "easier" (or maybe just "less difficult"). Kidneys don't have the collagen structure needed as the scaffolding for the stem cells. Some other scheme will have to be found.
If only Dr. Frankenstein had held out a little longer. ;)
I read somewhere that they had grown a functional rat lung. Pretty amazing progress.
That’s right - they grew a functional rat lung out of (IIRC) pluripotent rat cells.
Talking of pluripotent rats: that piece of functional rat-lung went on to become the senior Senator for Nevada, so there are still some kinks to be worked out.
Wouldn’t be great if the could grow hams this way?
“Take a claw from a crab and it grows back. Someday we will figure out how to do the same with a human arm.”
I’m not sure if I would want the crab claw, vs. a standard prosthetic. Would be nice to have the option I guess.
The future is here!
http://www.pcworld.com/article/218317/labgrown_meat_is_here_demand_not_so_much.html
The stem cell tribe always come out with stories like this when they pimp for more research money.
Adult Stem Cells are the ones that come from your body that contains your DNA. That is why this would not entail organ rejection -- it would be made with your DNA.
The Embryonic Stem Cell Research entails destroying babies [unborn].
It would be the same principle. Using your own stem cells + cells from the kidney to grow a new kidney.
Must be 100 different uses for them now.
But only used in a few cases it’s more hype than fact.
Build a new pancreas and do away with most diabetes.
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