Cookies
Doctors have grown a full-fledged liver from stem cells for the first time
For the first time, American biologists were able to grow a full-fledged analogue of the liver, capable of purifying the blood from toxins and performing other functions of this organ. (The words "for the first time" and especially "full-fledged" will be left on the conscience of the translator: neither in the press release nor in the article does they smell – VM.)
To do this, scientists used stem cells and "blanks" from stem cells, according to an article published in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine (Wang et al., Functional Maturation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Hepatocytes in Extracellular Matrix—A Comparative Analysis of Bioartificial Liver Microenvironments).
Decellularization of the liver fragment
for growing "cookies" in the resulting matrix – VM
"Cell therapy can be a salvation for people, and especially children suffering from metabolic problems and liver diseases. We have shown that we can create hepatocytes similar in their properties to those present in the "living" liver, and have demonstrated that these cells have all the necessary properties and can spread throughout the organ," said Kasper Wang from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (in a press releasethe release of Children's Hospital Los Angeles Functional Human Tissue-Engineered Liver Generated from Stem and Progenitor Cells – VM).
Wang and his colleagues have been working for several years to study the secrets of how the intestines, liver and other organs are formed in the embryo and inside the body of a healthy person, as well as to "repeat" this process in vitro using embryonic or "reprogrammed" stem cells.
Relatively recently, as Wang says, his team managed to grow adult intestinal cells and force them to unite into a full-fledged intestinal tissue. Using the same principles, scientists tried to obtain similar samples of liver tissue using "blanks" from stem cells programmed to turn into hepatocytes and other cells of this organ.
The experiment ended successfully – scientists managed to grow miniature likenesses of the liver in a test tube and implant it into the body of rats and mice. In their body, the organ "connected" to the circulatory system and began to produce albumin – one of the most important proteins of the body, which is produced by liver cells. In addition, damage to the "normal" liver in rodents did not lead to their rapid death, which suggests that the artificial liver was engaged in cleaning the blood from "garbage" and performed other critical functions.
According to scientists, in their shape and structure, these organoids were not similar to a normal human or rodent liver, but they contained all its key components – hepatocytes, bile-producing cells, blood vessels, fat-storing cells and epithelium.
Wang and his colleagues believe that such organoids can be used as a starting material for the production of liver cells, with the help of which it is possible to "seed" the damaged liver of sick people and thereby protect it from death and restore its function. This will save tens of thousands of patients, the scientist explains, from the painful operation of "transfusion" of liver cells from compatible donors, which they have to undergo every year.
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31.08.2016