Liver in a test tube
Scientists have grown human liver in the laboratory for the first time
Vladimir Kuznetsov, Hi-News.ru
Scientists have been engaged in research on the cultivation of artificial organs for quite some time, but until recently it was quite difficult to obtain viable samples. However, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh have grown a human liver in the laboratory for the first time in history. And they did it on the basis of genetically modified cells.
How to grow a liver?
According to a press release from the University of Pittsburgh First to Grow Genetically Engineered Mini Livers, it took scientists two phases to create an artificial liver. During the first phase, specialists took human skin cells and genetically modified them, creating stem cells from them. At the same time, scientists took the rat's liver and removed its own cells from there, leaving only its "skeleton" of the organ. After that, the stem cells obtained earlier were implanted into the rat liver.
In the second phase, by placing the liver in a special nutrient medium, due to the presence of a skeleton, tissues similar to human liver tissues were formed in the organ. Only the resulting liver, of course, was much smaller. A developed network of blood vessels has formed inside the organ itself.
Why do we need an artificial liver?
One could assume that such an artificial liver (if, of course, it is enlarged in size) would be suitable for transplantation. Perhaps in the future scientists will be engaged in such an application of this technology.
But in this experiment, it was used to study how non-alcoholic fatty liver disease proceeds. This is a disease in which the tissue of liver cells is replaced by fat. In particular, scientists have found out that one of the drugs for the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease resveratrol is practically useless. At the same time, the authors of the work do not exclude the further use of an artificial liver as a testing ground for new medicines.
Our study will help to study the work and functioning of the organ at all stages of the disease in order to develop more effective methods of therapy, said the lead author of the work, Dr. Alejandro Soto-Gutierrez. Despite the fact that now the liver is not ready for transplantation, over time we will be able not only to create organs, but also to improve them, giving useful functions.
Article by de l'hortet et al. Generation of Human Fatty Livers Using Custom-Engineered Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells with Modifiable SIRT1 Metabolism is published in the journal Cell Metabolism – VM.
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