Lab-grown organs begin to take shape
Ferber, D.
Science 284(5413): 422
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 10232984 Document Number: 502196
In this issue, researchers report growing functional pig arteries in the laboratory. Blood vessels grown previously using other techniques have met with varied success. Robert Langer of MIT and Laura Niklason of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, report growing the artificial arteries on tubes of polyglycolic acid, under conditions Niklason designed to copy those faced by a newly formed artery in the body. During the experiment, a tube-shaped scaffold that held the cells was hooked up to a pump, which pulsed 165 times a minute to mimic the pulsing pressure on a developing embryonic artery. Niklason says the pulsing made the tissue stronger because it increased the cells' production of collagen, a strong protein found in connective tissue.