Artificial liver culture from newborn umbilical cord

For the first time in the world in laboratory conditions . British scientists have succeeded in cultivating artificial liver. The tissue of the person raised from the stem cell removed from the umbilical cord just a few minutes after it was born.

Currently, artificial liver is not large in size - only 20mm, but the new technology is important. If you perfect this technology a bit more, researchers hope that in the future they will be able to create a liver that works with normal size. At that time, tens of thousands of people were waiting for many years to get a liver transplant.

One of the leaders of the experiment, Professor Colin Mcguckin of the University of New Mexico, said that liver transplant surgeries were cultured in the laboratory (called by the scientists as mini parts). ) will become practical in 10-15 years, but to study how to create a complete liver can take several decades.

(Photo: CAND) Meanwhile, mini cloning parts can be used now. Scientists are asking pharmaceutical companies to test new drugs on those parts. This will help to avoid the trouble that happened this year at Nortwee-Park Hospital, where 6 volunteers nearly died after taking a drug that is being tested. In addition, in the future, people may give up on animal testing.

'When the pharmaceutical company makes a new drug, they initially tested the drug on human cells, next, in animals, eventually turning to human trials, " explained Professor MacGackin - " The transfer from animals to humans is a huge step forward and it is associated with risk . When using the mini-liver that we created, there will be no need to test animals and humans. '

Previously the ' father ' of Dolly sheep - Professor Ian Wilman at Roslin Institute was allowed to conduct humanized experiments of human organs for medical purposes.

The replication method that Professor Wilman applies is from human egg cells, the nucleus is removed and instead, the nucleus of another cell of the body is inserted. Then the egg cell is artificially stimulated, forcing it to divide and develop as a normal embryo from natural fertilization.

Hoang Thuong