In Human Biology II lecture this week, the question "Has anyone made a human heart in the laboratory?" was asked. Well...it appears that scientists may be close!
In 2008, researchers from the University of Minnesota produced a rat heart in the laboratory that actually beats! The scientists removed all of the heart cells from the heart of a dead rat. This just left the heart valves and a scaffold of connective tissue. They then insterted cells from the heart of a newborn rat and within 2 weeks the beating heart developed.
In 2011, this same research team used a similar technique using the connective tissue scaffold of human hearts. They injected stem cells into the scaffold. The stem cells recognized the heart scaffld, multiplied and grew around the structure, eventually turning into healthy heart cells.
Want more information? Watch this interesting documentary on the topic.
In 2008, researchers from the University of Minnesota produced a rat heart in the laboratory that actually beats! The scientists removed all of the heart cells from the heart of a dead rat. This just left the heart valves and a scaffold of connective tissue. They then insterted cells from the heart of a newborn rat and within 2 weeks the beating heart developed.
In 2011, this same research team used a similar technique using the connective tissue scaffold of human hearts. They injected stem cells into the scaffold. The stem cells recognized the heart scaffld, multiplied and grew around the structure, eventually turning into healthy heart cells.
Want more information? Watch this interesting documentary on the topic.
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