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Artificial Organs

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Submitted By diannaron5819
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The science of growing replacement organs and tissues in a lab is called Tissue Engineering. These are created to replace diseased or damaged tissue in the human body. This process begins with a scaffold, a three-dimensional structure, that it utilized to support the cells as they develop and grow. Scientists take the cells to develop an organ specifically from the person in need of the transplant. Once the organ is produced it can be transplanted without the need for immune suppressants since it was developed from the patient's own cells. The organ will not be rejected by the body. From the research I have done, there has been successful human transplants of the bladder, esophagus, trachea, cornea, retina, heart valves, blood vessels, vaginal organs, skin, and ears. Scientists have been working on building functional hearts, livers, kidneys, anal sphincters, pancreas, and bones as well as noses.
At Wake Forest University, Dr Anthony Atala figured out that amniotic fluid contains stem cells which help to regenerate tissues from the more stubborn cells such as the ones from the pancreas, liver, and nerves. Amniotic stem cells are also used to grow bone, muscles, blood vessels, and fat cells. Embryonic stem cells can be used as well because they are more versatile. They can turn into every type of tissue in the body.
The process of building an organ from a patient's stem cells begins with a biopsy of the tissue from the damaged or diseased organ. Then they grow more undamaged cells in vitro. That happens by placing each different type of cell with a specific growth factor such as enzymes, proteins, and other nutrients. Once there is enough, they use a scaffold that guides the cells into the shape needed. For organs like blood vessels, valves, and bladders a biodegradable material made from the structural component in skin, collagen. Once they are transplanted in the patient, the collagen outer shell disintegrates.
From what I have read, I believe that the artificially grown organs can permanently replace the original human organs. When it comes to who should be a prime candidate for these types of artificial/synthetic replacements, I think that the rules should be the same for the usual organ transplants. People that subject themselves to illegal drug use or who are alcoholics usually do not get put on donor lists. I think the people who should be in charge of making the judgement calls on who should receive artificial organs should be the same ones that decide on the regular transplants.
I have also found some information on how scientists may have found a way to grow human organs in pigs. They will do this by injecting human stem cells into the embryo of a pig. The organs in which said pig would develop would be human and therefore able to be harvested and transplanted into the patient. So far, this process has been tested by injected stem cells from rats into mice embryos. First, these mice had to be genetically altered so they could grow organs of their own. They could only produce the rat organs. Professor Hiromitsu Nakauchi, the director of the center for stem biology and regenerative medicine at the University of Tokyo leads this research. It really amazes how how far science has come.

Sources:
Time: The Science of Growing Body Parts by Alice Park (November 1, 2007) http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1679115,00.html Wake Health: Wake Forest School of Medicine: Human Liver (December 22, 2015) http://www.wakehealth.edu/Research/WFIRM/Projects/Human-Liver.htm# Singularity Hub: Growing Organs in the Lab by Drew Halley (June 8, 2009) http://singularityhub.com/2009/06/08/growing-organs-in-the-lab/ Scientific America: Lab-Grown Vaginas Implanted Successfully in 4 Teenagers by Bahar Gholipour (April 11, 2004) http://www.scientificamerica.com/article/lab-grown-vaginas-implanted-successfully-in-4-teenagers/ The Telegraph: Pigs Could Grow Human Organs in Stem Cell Breakthrough by Richard Gray (June 19, 2011) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/8584443/Pigs-could-grow-human-organs-in-stem-cell-breakthrough.html The Telegraph: Human Organs Could be Grown in Animals Within a Year by Julian Ryall (June 20, 2013)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/10132347/Human-organs-could-be-grown-in-animals-within-a-year.html

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