Blood Vessels in Lab Grown Tissue

Researchers from Rice and Baylor School of Medicine have made a breakthrough that will change the field of tissue engineering forever. Tissue grown in a lab could formerly only grow a few microns thick according to Jennifer West, chair of Bioengineering at Rice university, because of the lack of a blood supply in the tissue. Texas researchers have found a way to efficiently stimulate cells to create artificial blood vessels. How did they induce the cells to make these capillaries? With a common laxative. The researchers took polyethylene glycol (PEG), a common ingredient in laxatives, and changed it to be synonymous with the extracellular matrix found in the human body. They placed umbilical cells from a human and other growth factors to enhance the formation of the blood vessels, and, 72 hours later, had a working network of tubules.

I found this article extremely interesting due to the impact it will have on tissue engineering. If we can create tissues with working networks of blood vessels, how large of a tissue can we create? A liver? Or maybe even brand new hearts cultured from those whose inherent heart is failing. This type of research makes me eager to get into a lab and expand medicine even more.

URL: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-01/tissue-engineering-breakthrough-lab-grown-tissue-can-grow-its-own-blood-vessels