Professor Doris Taylor
We’ve all seen the 30-second sound bites on TV with trite Frankenstein jokes. I thought I’d offer up a bit more detail:
US scientists have coaxed recycled hearts taken from animal cadavers into beating in the laboratory after reseeding them with live cells…
The core procedure making this possible is called decellularisation.
In this process, all the cells from an organ — in this case the heart of a dead rat — are stripped away using powerful detergents, leaving only a bleached-white scaffolding composed of proteins secreted by the cells.
In the experiments, this matrix was then injected with a mixture of cells taken from newborn rat hearts and placed in a sterile lab setting, where the scientists hoped it would grow.
After only four days, contractions started, and on the eighth day, the hearts were pumping, according to the study…
“When we saw the first contractions, we were speechless,” said Harald Ott, a surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital.
More detail in the article, of course. Photos, more notes and a video from the University of Minnesota are here.
And – they’ve already moved up the chordate chain to pig hearts. Ought to get round to human replacement parts in a reasonable while.
Will it work with a foot long salami as the scaffolding?
“IT ‘S ALIVE” ok that was crony
As I sit here freezing to death because MN is immune to global warming – it’s good to be reminded of the strength of the medical community here.
Great, now get to work on other organs like the liver, pancreas and kidneys.
Dick Cheney will live forever!
#2 Well…. Not for a heart replacement. But not to worry the spam e-mails for what they will replace will be hitting your inbox as soon as it’s finished.
Hey, we might get male enhancement that works and breast augmentation without silicone…
That’s sad, how we’re all thinking along the same lines….. no wait, it’s not sad at all – just proper priorities.
Walt Disney Shall Rise Again!!!
Imagine what new organs could do to the porn industry. Especially if you gave everyone 3 or 4 of everything and did the group thing.
Quick send this link to Barry and Robin Gibb. They been looking for this information since 1970. 🙂
come on up to the lab and see what i’ve got on the slab!!
#2, a foot long salami would be scaffolding for a lower, external body part. #13 gives me the idea that such a transplant would be referred to as the “Dr. Frank-N-Furter.”
It’s good to know the scientific community has found a way to use the poor and the unborn for the benefit of the 1% that rules the world.
#14: That transplant would of course be “an enormous schwanschtuker.” Of course he’ll be very popular.
The potential here is amazing. Of coarse there will always be those that still think with their penis, but those with more worldly outlook (and decent appendage already) will be thinking of the good it can do society.
May all those waiting for a heart transplant live long enough to see this procedure come to fruition.
cant wait to see some zombies
Angel, there’s plenty of tissue availible from abortions. “It’s just tissue” so there’s no problem chopping it up, right?