Let's make a new liver out of the old one
The new liver is grown on a frame from the old one
Membrane Based on Technology Review: Old Livers Made New AgainSpecialists at the Massachusetts General Hospital were able to transplant liver grown from healthy cells to rats (Mass.
General researchers develop functional, transplantable rat liver grafts). However, before that they had to clear the carcass of the old organ from the cells.
Earlier, scientists from Massachusetts developed an operation technology that does not entail the rejection of donor "spare parts". Now the synthetic organ has continued this theme. It was based on the liver of rodents who died from oxygen deficiency. The original cells were removed by doctors using a special detergent. Biologists still have a skeleton in their hands – a collagen matrix forming vessels, capillaries and a shell.
In the picture on the right: the matrix for the future liver is not yet populated with cells, pink liquid – nutrients (photo by Brittany Sauser). A little later, about 50 million healthy liver cells of recipient rats were implanted into it and the new organ was given two weeks for further growth.
At the moment, scientists are not able to reproduce the circulatory system of the organ, because it was so important for them to preserve the old structure. By the way, in addition to the liver cells themselves, endothelial cells lining the vessels were added to the framework. In the left picture: a comparison of a real organ (on the right) and an artificial analogue (photo by B.E. Uygun, O.B. Usta).
An installation that supports the life of a new organ.
1 – perfusion chamber, 2 – hose pump, 3 – aerator, 4 – gas trap
(photo by Uygun et al./Nature Medicine).
Thus, five new livers were created for transplantation. Organs were transplanted to rodents, connected to their circulatory system. For eight hours, the liver functioned normally.
The current success allows us to hope that someday biologists will be able to launch such an organ into full-fledged work, first in rodents, and then in humans. Then it will be possible to plant donor organs (both humans and pigs) with the cells of the recipient himself, which for various reasons were not suitable for conventional transplantation.
In an article published in the journal Nature Medicine (Basak E Uygun et al., Organ reengineering through development of a transplantable recellularized liver graft using decellularized liver matrix), the authors provide a list of obstacles that have yet to be overcome. First of all, it is necessary to learn how to more densely populate the blood vessels so that the blood in contact with collagen does not clot and does not clog the vessels. Secondly, you need to find a source of healthy cells.
Healthy cells for colonization can be taken both from donors (it is known that the liver is capable of self-healing within a few weeks), and using the latest developments in the field of stem cells.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru17.06.2010