Miniature Human Livers Created in the Lab

Regenerative medicine has reached a milestone in growing replacement livers. Researchers at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have for the first time used human cells to engineer livers in lab. Pedro Baptista, a lead author in the study, is hoping that the engineered organs will increase in size and function once transplanted. To form the liver, the scientist take an animal’s liver and add a mild detergent to remove the animal’s cells leaving only the collagen of the liver. Once the animal cells have been removed, the scientists add human liver cells and endothelial cells which grow into a function liver. “After a week in the bioreactor, the scientists documented the progressive formation of human liver tissue as well as liver-associated function.”

I choose this article because it is on the breaking edge of tissue engineering. The bioengineered livers could be critical for treating liver disease. This current study suggests a new approach to organ engineering that could all organ systems.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101030111057.htm