Researchers in the U.K. have found a way to make growing synthetic tissue more sustainable. At present, the size of engineered tissues is limited because the cells die from lack of oxygen when the pieces get too big. By adding an oxygen-carrying protein to the stem cells prior to combining them with tissue scaffolding, the researchers overcame this problem.
The study, led by Adam Perriman, PhD, research fellow at the University of Bristol's Synthetic Biology Research Centre, and Anthony Hollander, PhD, professor of integrative biology at the University of Liverpool, was published yesterday in Nature Communications. The tissue they were fabricating was cartilage, but the process could potentially be applied to other tissues, as well.
Perriman describes the findings in a press release:
We were surprised and delighted to discover that we could deliver the necessary quantity [of oxygen] to the cells to supplement their oxygen requirements. It's like supplying each cell with its own scuba tank, which it can use to breathe from when there is not enough oxygen in the local environment.
Hollander also comments on the significance of the research:
We have already shown that stem cells can help create parts of the body that can be successfully transplanted into patients, but we have now found a way of making their success even better. Growing large organs remains a huge challenge but with this technology we have overcome one of the major hurdles.
Creating larger pieces of cartilage gives us a possible way of repairing some of the worst damage to human joint tissue, such as the debilitating changes seen in hip or knee osteoarthritis or the severe injuries caused by major trauma, for example in road traffic accidents or war injuries.
Previously: Building bodies, one organ at a time, How Stanford researchers are engineering materials that mimic those found in our own bodies and A brief look at "caring" for engineered tissue
Photo by Warwick Bromley
