Posted on 04/04/2006 9:19:14 AM PDT by orionblamblam
... A new procedure pioneered at Wake Forest University in North Carolina has apparently solved the problem for Kaitlyne and six other patients.
Scientists grew new bladders from the patients' own cells, which were then transplanted back into the patients' bodies. .... In the new procedure, doctors extract muscle and bladder cells from a small piece of the patient's own bladder. The cells are grown in a Petri dish, then layered onto a three-dimensional mold shaped like a bladder.
In a few weeks, the cells produce a new bladder, which is implanted into the patient. Within a few more weeks, the new bladder has grown to normal size and has started functioning.
Atala is working to grow 20 different tissues and organs, including blood vessels and hearts, in the laboratory, according to the university.
...
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Simply amazing! And to think I laughed at the mouse with the ear growing on his back!
This is big time news! It could potentially eliminate the need for donated organs, and also the need for immunosuppresive drugs.
Taken to its obvious conclusion, this could mean a radical extension of human life.
OTOH, with Alzheimer's being as prevalent and incurable as it currently is, what would be the point?
If everyone would join my FutureTech Ping List, there'd be no need to post five threads about this. ;^)
There is a point, but I have forgotten what it was.
Regenerating brains is probably just 30 to 40 years away (based on what this researcher said in the article I posted on this yesterday).
Just grow brains, too.
Atala's success represents a significant advance in the field of tissue engineering, said A. Hari Reddi, professor and director of the Center for Tissue Regeneration and Repair at the University of California-Davis Medical Center.
"I think this is really important work," Reddi said. "In the future the challenge is going to be the tissue engineering of complex tissue such as the heart, kidney or liver. Of course, the ultimate is the brain, which I'd say is 30 or 40 years away."
All kidding aside, this sounds like great news. - OB1
How does regenerating brains work?
I can see how the physical growing of the organ might work, but how do you transfer all the important stuff (memory, developed skills, etc.) into the new one?
And even if you could, wouldn't the old "you" have to "die" in order for the new "you" to exist? Or, at some point, there would be two "you"'s, which would instantly start to diverge based on non-shared experiences.
Opens up all sorts of philosophical questions.
Check out the thread I linked in post #9. There's an extended discussion on regenerating brains that begins at post #25. It gets more detailed as it goes on.
Wonderful! At last there may be a cure for Liberalism!
Two new lungs, please.
> It could potentially eliminate the need for donated organs, and also the need for immunosuppresive drugs.
As well as having clear cosmetic implications. No more silicone, for example. Two more on the back for slow dancing!
Silly as that sounds... that's where the big money will likely be.
The problem with brain tissue is not the brain cells themselves as much as the dendritic connections between cells. Implanting living tissue in the location of brain damage or a removed tumor would not replace lost memories or skills. The patient would still have to learn how to walk again, for example. However, this would still be an amazing breakthrough and a blessing to any brain-damaged patient. This is still a long way off, but the real beneficiary of this advance are people waiting for traditional organ transplants: heart/lung/kidney/liver/bladder, etc. I give thanks that people study science, chemisty, biology, evolution, medicine and all that. Truly a great time to be alive.
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