Scientists have bred in the laboratory from human liver cells ... - Gazeta Wyborcza

Practically the whole world, including Poland, have big problems with insufficient number of organs needed for transplantation. In addition to the shares intended to raise awareness and increase the number of potential donors, high hopes are seen also in regenerative medicine. Its aim is to create methods that allow organs to grow in the lab that could replace their diseased counterparts in the human body.

So far the researchers have succeeded in creating such muscles, trachea and bladder. The real challenge is of course to breed more complex, performing a variety of organ functions. The most advanced works on the kidney and liver (also because the demand just in these organs for transplantation is very high).

Jobs published in the latest issue of “Nature” is devoted to the liver.

A team led by prof. Takanori Takebe of the Medical University of Yokohama in their experiments used human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS s), having all of the capabilities of embryonic stem cells, including the most important one – the ability to transform themselves into any cell and tissue of the body.

In this particular case, the Japanese researchers so directing the development of iPS s that are transformed into three different types of cell-precursors, which, under normal conditions – the stage of the embryo – liver begins to form.

– Wymieszali?my all three cell types and to our surprise, they began to organize themselves to form a three-dimensional nucleus of liver – said prof. Takebe at a special press conference on the discovery.

At the next stage, the experience obtained seeds were implanted into mice. – And here he was again successful. After transplanting the seeds have matured, found in the blood vessels have formed a more extensive network that connected to the bloodstream mice. In time the implanted seeds began to work as a normal liver, including produced many important proteins for the body – Takebe said.

In the last experiment produced seeds implanted into mice with chronic liver failure. To the satisfaction of scientists, after surgery for animal health began to improve.

Of course this is only a preliminary part of the research in the laboratory of true breeding the liver. According to the same Takanori Takebe, the practical use of the findings in transplantation and treatment of sick people will be able to think of a decade earlier. On one hand, researchers in Japan are planning to improve their methods so that could be used to grow a large chunk of liver transplant. On the other hand, promise to work on this, to reduce the current size of the nucleus of the liver (today is about 4-5 mm). – Thanks for using injections could be introduced into the patient a large number of such mini-livers that could regenerate sick organ – argued at a press conference.

According to them, the same technology can also be used to work on the culture of the pancreas , kidneys and even the lungs.