A new article published in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB Journal) has described how scientists from Stanford and NYU have come a step closer to growing organs from stem cells. The article, in the March 2009 issue, has described how the scientists from the Stanford and New York University Langone Medical Center were able to use ‘scaffolding’ material that they extracted from the groin area of mice, on which stem cells from blood, fat and bone marrow grew. The use of a scaffold is described as helping stem cells to grow into mature, differentiated adult cells. Geoffrey Gurtner, MD and Associate Professor of Surgery at Stanford University has stated that ‘(This) could revolutionise the field of organ transplantation’.
The scientists firstly had to prove that pieces of tissue, known as ‘free flaps’ were able to be sustained within a laboratory environment. A piece of tissue was taken from the mice’s groin area and it contained blood vessels, fat and skin. The scientists proceeded to use a bioreactor which provided the tissue with the oxygen and nutrients needed to live. The next step was that the free flap of tissue was then seeded with stem cells before being re-implanted into the mouse. Once implanted, the stem cells continued to grow and was not rejected by the animal.
An example of the uses of stem cells in organ transplant currently is the story recently aired on the news. In Brittain, a woman needed an esophogeal transplant. They removed the esophagus of an organ donor, stripped it of the donor cells and then coated the esophagus with stem cells from the transplant patient. This prevented rejection of the organ because the cells were her own and thus her body did not recognise that it was a foreign esophagus. If the work done by the scientists from NYU and Stanford was continued and stem cells were grown into organs, organ donation would become obsolete and the risks for the organ recipient would become practically non-existent as there would be no problem of rejection.
By Nikki Roestenburg (42047210).
Resources:
http://www.breakthroughdigest.com/stem-cell-research/from-stem-cells-to-new-organs-scientists-cross-threshold-in-regenerative-medicine/
Published Feb 27, 2009 by Admin.
Tissue engineering using autologous microcirculatory beds as vascularized bioscaffolds
http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/abstract/23/3/906
Published March, 2009 by Edward I. Chang*,1, Robert G. Bonillas*,1, Samyra El-ftesi*, Eric I. Chang*, Daniel J. Ceradini, Ivan N. Vial*, Denise A. Chan, Joseph Michaels, V and Geoffrey C. Gurtner*,2
