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April 16, 2019 – 14:19 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – There has been a potential advance in the manufacture of organs in the laboratory. Israeli researchers have 3D printed a heart, complete with muscles and blood vessels. But how long before it's ready for real use? According to Dr. Max Gomez of CBS New York, CBS News reports that it's not for a moment.
Print an organ is much more complicated than throwing a group of cells in the shape of heart or kidney.
That said, researchers at Tel Aviv University have taken a big step towards standard organs.
The video shows a living heart being printed. 3D printing includes not only the cells of the heart, but also the blood vessels and other supporting structures. It's a small heart, the size of a rabbit. Not only are the cells alive, but all types of heart cells come from a single human donor.
"It's important because it avoids the possibility of rejection," said Dr. Anthony Atala of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest.
Dr. Atala is a pioneer of 3D printing of organs and tissues. He explained that the cells that made the heart came from the adipose tissue of the donor, which was then transformed into stem cells and differentiated into different types of heart cells.
These cells are then printed in a biodegradable scaffold, or skeleton, which gives it its shape.
Although it sounds like a heart, structurally it is not yet functional and does not pump.
"A functional heart must contract and be connected to vessels to function," said Dr. Atala.
The first organs and printed tissues for human use will be simpler: bladders, ears, blood vessels and trachea, some of which have already been implanted in patients, said Dr. Atala.
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