1 1 Body parts cultured in the laboratory

Page 1 of 2: Page 1, Page 1, Page 2 It is not important for the part planted in the laboratory (Wake Forest Medical College) to regrow the missing limb. For starfish or salamanders, these creatures are famous for replacing missing arms and tails with regenerative "super powers". But they are not the only animals that can rebuild damaged or damaged body parts. Deer can regrow 66 pounds (30 kilograms) of antlers in three months. Zebrafish can regenerate the heart, while flatworms have proved that they can regenerate their own heads.

However, for human beings, what has been lost-or what?

Individual cells in the body are constantly replaced after wear and tear. This process will slow down with the growth of age, but it will run through a person's life. You can even observe this frequent visible regeneration in one of your organs: your skin. In fact, according to the American Chemical Society, human beings shed their skin every two to four weeks, and lose about 65,438+08 ounces (565,438+00 grams) of skin cells every year.

However, the regeneration of complete organs and body parts is a common practice of Dr. Time, which has gone beyond the scope of human biology. However, in recent years, scientists have successfully cultivated a series of human structures, and similar structures have been successfully tested on animals. There are also small-scale human organs called "organ-like" for studying the function and structure of human organs, which was impossible before. Here are some recent examples:

Scientists from Max Planck Institute of Infectious Biology in Berlin used stem cells to culture the innermost cells of human fallopian tubes, which connect ovary and uterus. In the statement issued on June 65438+1October 1 1, the researchers said that the organic matter produced has the unique characteristics and shape of a full-size fallopian tube.

Cerebellum (Ohio State University) Scientists at Ohio State University have cultivated a laboratory brain the size of a pencil eraser from skin cells, which is similar in structure and genetics to the brain of a 5-week-old human fetus. In the statement of August 18, 2008, the representative of OSU described it as a "brain changer". The organ has functional neurons with extended signal transmission, such as axons and dendrites. In the picture of the cerebellum, the label identifies the structure usually found in the fetal brain.

Careful researchers urge stem cells to develop into cardiac muscle and connective tissue, and then organize them into tiny chambers and "beats". In the video of this achievement, when the connective tissue (green circle) fixes the small heart on the Petri dish where it grows, the myocardial cells (shown in red in the middle) are beating. Kevin Healy, a professor of bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and a co-senior author of the study, said in a statement that this technology can help us quickly screen out drugs that may cause congenital defects in the heart. This study was published in the journal Nature Communication from March 2065438 to March 2005.

An Australian team of scientists has cultivated a mini kidney, which differentiated stem cells into three different types of kidney cells for the first time. Researchers have developed organs similar to organs during normal kidney development. In this picture, these three colors represent the types of kidney cells that form the "nephron" and the different structures in the kidney.

"Minilung" (University of Michigan Health System) Researchers from many institutions cooperate to cultivate three-dimensional lung organs, which can develop bronchial or airway structures and alveoli. These tiny lungs can simulate the reaction of real tissues. They are a kind of mucus. Jason R. spence, an assistant professor of internal medicine, cell and developmental biology at the University of Michigan School of Medicine and a senior research author, said in a statement: "Study how organs form (and) D models with the changes of diseases and their responses to new drugs." . Jim Wells, a developmental professor and co-author, said that these miniature lungs survived in the laboratory for more than 65,438+000 days.

Kyle mccracken Microlung was cultured in a Petri dish for about a month, forming an "oval, hollow structure" similar to one of the two parts of the stomach, the biology of the Medical Center of Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Wells told Life Science that these small stomachs with a diameter of about 0. 1 inch (3 mm) will be particularly helpful for scientists to study the role of certain bacteria in causing stomach diseases. He said that this is because bacteria behave differently in animal experiments.

* * * (Dr. Zhang Yuanyuan, Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine) 20 14 A study published in The Lancet magazine described the successful transplantation of cells on a * * * * shaped scaffold cultivated in the laboratory by cultivating patients. A few years ago, four girls and young women aged from13 to18 were transplanted, which corrected the congenital defects of * * * and uterine absence or hypoplasia. These teenagers are examined for 8 years every year after transplantation. In the meantime, the organs function normally and they can be painless.

* * * (Wake Forest Regenerative Medicine Research Institute) Scientists at Wake Forest Regenerative Medicine Research Institute use rabbit cells to cultivate erectile tissue, transplant the * * * cultivated in the laboratory to male rabbits, and then successfully mate. However, this process is still in the experimental stage, and it needs the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration (fda), before the team can expand its scope of work to include human tissues and subjects. The American Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine is funding this research because it can benefit soldiers who have been injured in the groin during the battle.

Esophagus (Macchiarini et al.). At Kuban National Medical University in Krasnodar, Russia, a group of international scientists cultured stem cells on scaffolds for three weeks, and then successfully transplanted organs into rats. Scientists tested the durability of the new esophagus 10000 times of inflation and contraction, implanted the artificial structure into 10 rats, and replaced up to 20% of the original organs of animals.

What Ear (Lindsay University/Cornell University Photography) is hearing now is that scientists have printed out three-dimensional images of human ears and cultivated them by covering the molded ear model with living cells growing around the frame. The researchers used 3D software to model children's ears, and then sent the models to a 3D printer, thus making molds in the shape of ears. According to the report of Field Science, once scientists got the mold, they injected it into a mixture of living ear cells and bovine collagen, and then "took an ear out of it". Then the ears were implanted in mice for one to three months, and scientists evaluated the changes of the size and shape of the ears with the growth of organs.

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