The technique behind the rat forelimb – dubbed "decel/recel" – has previously been used to build hearts, lungs and kidneys in the lab. ...So the catch is that you still need a donor limb to provide a collagen scaffold. Since 3D printers have become so popular why not just print one?
In the first, decel step – short for decellularisation – organs from dead donors are treated with detergents that strip off the soft tissue, leaving just the "scaffold" of the organ, built mainly from the inert protein collagen. This retains all the intricate architecture of the original organ. In the case of the rat forearm, this included the collagen structures that make up blood vessels, tendons, muscles and bones.
In the second recel step the flesh of the organ is recellularised by seeding the scaffold with the relevant cells from the recipient. The scaffold is then nourished in a bioreactor, enabling new tissue to grow and colonize the scaffold.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Mammalian limbs can be regrown from cells
I remember the first time someone told me that salamanders can regrow their tails. Now, it looks like regrowing mammalian limbs is possible. Andy Coghlan, writing for New Scientist, says:
