Human blood vessels developed in the laboratory could advance research on vascular diseases

Scientists have announced a breakthrough in medical technology with the opportunity to grow what they call perfect human blood vessels in the form of organoids in a petri dish. An organoid is a 3D structure derived from stem cells mimicking an organ and can be used to study aspects of this organ in a petri dish. Scientists say this breakthrough could be essential to advance research on vascular diseases such as diabetes.

Josef Penninger, the lead author of the study, says that being able to grow blood vessels in a Petri dish is a "game changer" since all the organs in our body are connected by the circulatory system. Penninger says the discovery of fake blood vessels could lead to treatments for various vascular diseases, from Alzheimer's disease to wound healing, diabetes, stroke and cancer.

Diabetes is a particularly important area for medical researchers because of the large population affected. An estimated 420 million people worldwide have diabetes. Scientists say that many symptoms of diabetes result from changes in blood vessels that alter blood flow and tissue oxygen delivery.

Although diabetes is a common disease in the world, little is known about the resulting vascular changes. The vascular organoids that the team has developed are created using stem cells in the laboratory. Researchers transplanted organoids from blood vessels into mice and discovered that the creations were perfectly functional.

The team has created functional arteries and capillaries. During experiments, they were able to expose the blood vessels created to a "diabetic" environment in a petri dish and attend the "mbadive expansion" of the basement membrane. In diabetics, this is a key problem that hinders tissue oxygenation and can lead to more serious problems, such as kidney failure.