Sunday, April 29, 2012
Lab grown organs.
Say bye to Alzheimer's with a new biodegradable plastics developed in U.C.D. These new nerves can be rewired by laser that can done from a hospital lab. The future of science organ lattice can incorporate repairs into patients using a duel DNA sequence with stem cells with out invasive trauma for example the heart. Co-author Dr Frederik Claeyssens, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Materials Science and Engineering, said: "Nerves aren't just like one long cable, they're made up of lots of small cables, similar to how an electrical wire is constructed."Using our new technique we can make a conduit with individual strands so the nerve fibres can form a similar structure to an undamaged nerve."Ultimately NGCs might be developed that help in the treatment of spinal cord injury, said Dr Claeyssens. He added: "What's exciting about this work is that not only have we designed a new method for making nerve guide scaffolds which support nerve growth, we've also developed a method of easily reproducing them through micro moulding."This technology could make a huge difference to patients suffering severe nerve damage." This synthetic trachea, or windpipe, was created by seeding the patient’s own stem cells onto an artificial "scaffold". scientists helped design and built the structure, a replica of the man’s original windpipe. Windpipes have been grown from stem cells before, but only using the collagen "skeletons" of donated trachea's. Using an entirely synthetic scaffold means patients do not have to wait for a suitable donor organ. This is especially important for children, for whom donor trachea's are much more difficult to find. The patient, an African student living in Iceland, had been suffering from life-threatening tracheal cancer. Spanish regenerative medicine pioneer Professor Paolo Macchiarini led the ground-breaking operation at Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden. In 2008 he carried out the world’s first tissue-engineered tracheal transplant on a 30-year-old Spanish woman, Claudia Costillo. Prof Alexander Seifalian, from University College London, worked with Prof Macchiarini to produce the synthetic trachea scaffold. Computer-generated implants that help nerves rewire themselves could improve the chances of restoring movement and sensation in severely injured limbs.The "nerve guidance conduits" (NGCs) were produced by British and German engineers with a laser technique normally used to "write" complex electrical circuits.Made from a form of biodegradable plastic, they guide regrowing nerve fibres through individual channels to aid recovery. Once the nerves are fully regrown and reconnected, the device dissolves away.Bio engineer Professor John Haycock, from the University of Sheffield, said: "When nerves in the arms or legs are injured they have the ability to regrow, unlike in the spinal cord; however, they need assistance to do this."We are designing scaffold implants that can bridge an injury site and provide a range of physical and chemical cues for stimulating this regrowth."Laboratory tests of the implants have shown that nerves will grow naturally through the channelled structure. The researchers, whose work is reported in the journal Bio fabrication, are working towards clinical trials. They hope to apply the technology to a wide range of peripheral nerve injuries.
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