The News:
Rat heart grown in jar holds hope for humans
Researchers envision the possibility of engineering tissue to repair ailing body parts.
By Josephine Marcotty Minneapolis Star Tribune
Article Last Updated: 01/14/2008 12:39:24 AM MST
MINNEAPOLIS — Researchers at the University of Minnesota have grown a beating heart in a jar.
They used detergents to strip a rat heart of its own cells, leaving behind a white, three- dimensional scaffolding of connective tissue.
They then infused it with living cardiac cells from newborn rats, which multiplied and grew into a fully functional heart — a first in the field of tissue engineering.
"We've figured out how to use nature's own matrix — chambers, valves, blood vessels," said Dr. Doris Taylor, the lead researcher and director of the university's Center for Cardiovascular Repair.
She said the technique holds promise for growing human tissue to repair not only hearts but many other parts of the body. It might be possible, she said, to grow whole organs for patients who need transplants. more...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Nature Medicine.
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