The organ in the image above is a bio-artificial ear. It was grown from the patient’s own stem cells.
Scientists are calling regenerative medicine the "Holy Grail" of stem-cell research because tissue regeneration could make invasive surgeries a thing of the past. For instance, a patient with a bladder disease can be grown a new bladder. The whole process takes six to eight weeks, but the results are life-changing and well worth the wait. In order for cell regeneration to work, you must take healthy cells from a patient's diseased bladder, cause them to multiply greatly in petri dishes, then apply them to a balloon-shaped scaffold (structure) made partly of collagen, which is the protein found in cartilage. Muscle cells are put on the outside, while urothelial cells (which line the urinary tract) are put on the inside. The next step is that the structure must then be incubated at body temperature until the cells form functioning tissue.
| Artificial Organs | |
| Pros: | Cons: |
| Engineering tissues can potentially help people conquer illnesses and diseases | If the body tissue used to reconstruct particular tissue had latent or hidden diseases or illnesses, they could carry over to the new tissue |
| Has the capability of prolonging life/makes the general quality of life better | Many people have ethical issues with using stem cells |
| Will make organ transplant lists and waiting for donors unnecessary | |
| Stem cells are readily available | |
Sam- I really like how you included the picture of the bio-artificial ear. It definitely enhances the topic at hand by showing how artificial organs truly look the EXACT same as "regular" organs, with the exception of their origin being a petri dish! Really cool!
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