In response to our recent device design project, and the stem cell scaffold potential, I came across this article In the article, they describe a recent innovation through the University of Minnesota. In this development, they took heart from a dead rat, washed out all the interior cells, leaving only the shell of the organ. They then injected the cell with cells from newborn rat hearts, and a few days later, they had grown into the shell of the heart and actually began beating on its own, essentially reanimating a dead heart. They say that they hope that in the future, the cadaver heart will no longer be necessary, but will be replaced by an artificial scaffold that will do the same thing, allowing the patient to give their cells and in a few days have a new heart.
This process has phenomenal implications to the transplant process as well as the treatment of defective, failing, or deformed hearts. If this procedure could be perfected, then donor organs from cadavers or organ donors would no longer be necessary as the patient could have an operating organ of their very own in only a few days time. At the current time, however, there is not a proven way to build large tissues on artificial scaffolds, and the cadaver organs are still necessary. This means that instead of a direct transplant, the cadaver organ could be washed, then operate as the scaffold for a new organ.
Dr. Taylor, the project lead, says of the process: "The cells began to reorganize in the wall of that heart. The ones that were going to make blood vessels moved to the spot where the blood vessels had been and relined the blood vessels, and the ones that were going to make muscle lined up in the wall and started to make new muscle. And what it says is a couple of things. It says that this scaffold has a lot more information than we thought and that the cells know how to respond to that in some way."
I found this article to be really interesting because it tells us that such possible means to replace transplant lists, etc. with working replacements, with few defects, are being undertaken and are being met with success. I only hope that the process can be advanced and refined in the coming years.
http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/science/article/293721
This process has phenomenal implications to the transplant process as well as the treatment of defective, failing, or deformed hearts. If this procedure could be perfected, then donor organs from cadavers or organ donors would no longer be necessary as the patient could have an operating organ of their very own in only a few days time. At the current time, however, there is not a proven way to build large tissues on artificial scaffolds, and the cadaver organs are still necessary. This means that instead of a direct transplant, the cadaver organ could be washed, then operate as the scaffold for a new organ.
Dr. Taylor, the project lead, says of the process: "The cells began to reorganize in the wall of that heart. The ones that were going to make blood vessels moved to the spot where the blood vessels had been and relined the blood vessels, and the ones that were going to make muscle lined up in the wall and started to make new muscle. And what it says is a couple of things. It says that this scaffold has a lot more information than we thought and that the cells know how to respond to that in some way."
I found this article to be really interesting because it tells us that such possible means to replace transplant lists, etc. with working replacements, with few defects, are being undertaken and are being met with success. I only hope that the process can be advanced and refined in the coming years.
http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/science/article/293721
posted by alexandersohn at 10:18 PM
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