by Carlhole » Mon 14 Jun 2010, 19:10:57
MailOnline$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')cientists have grown a liver in a laboratory, offering fresh hope to hundreds of thousands of patients with diseased and damaged organs. It raises the prospect of those in need of transplants one day being offered livers that are ‘made to order’. The first pieces of lab-grown livers could be used in hospitals within just five years, the researchers said.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he process began with a donor liver being ‘washed’ in detergent, stripping it of its cells, leaving only a collagen and blood vessel ‘scaffold’ in which the new liver cells could grow. The U.S. scientists then injected it with up to 200 million healthy liver cells, in four shots, each ten minutes apart.
The cells spread across the scaffold, and, provided with an artificial blood supply, the liver survived in a petri dish for up to ten days, the journal Nature Medicine reports.
Tests showed that, just like a real liver, it was capable of breaking up toxins.
Then the race will be on to achieve a full-size, artificial liver scaffold that can actually be used in hospitals. Next stop Pancreas.
Hmm... glandular cells might be very profitable; maybe you could make some artificial glands that have on/off switches built-in.