Organs to order

摘要

The man who grew a human ear on the back of a mouse has made a breakthrough that brings the prospect of an artificial liver much closer. He believes he has solved the problem of growing the complex networks of blood vessels that artificial organs would need to sustain themselves within the body. Until now, researchers trying to build replacement body parts have been limited to making relatively simple tissue, such as thin sections of cartilage and skin. That's because it has not been possible to grow the deep networks of blood vessels that organs need to stay alive. But now Jay Vacanti at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Jeffrey Borenstein at the nearby Draper Lab have shown that it can be done. Artificial organs would be a boon because organ donations cannot keep pace with demand. In the US, some 80,000 people are waiting for kidney, liver or heart transplants. And of the 23,000 Americans who need a liver, only 5000 got their wish last year. Artificial organs would slash these waiting lists and solve the big problem of organ rejection by growing them from the patient's cells.