3D Heart ♥
A giant step for mankind - 3D printed human heart!!! For the first time in recorded history, Israeli scientists at Tel Aviv University have created a working, vascularized engineered heart using human cells by printing it in 3D — a stunning achievement that could change the world of medicine by ending the reliance on donated organs. The world’s first “printed heart” was made with actual human biological material, although only about the size of a rabbit’s heart, making it too small for a human. But the achievement demonstrates the potential for being able to 3D print full-sized organs one day. This is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers. To create the 3D printed heart, a biopsy of fatty tissue was taken from patients. The cellular and a-cellular materials of the tissue were then separated. While the cells were reprogrammed to become pluripotent stem cells, the extracellular matrix (ECM), a three-dimensional network of extracellular macromolecules such as collagen and glycoproteins, were processed into a personalized hydrogel that served as the printing “ink.” After being mixed with the hydrogel, the cells were efficiently differentiated to cardiac or endothelial cells to create patient-specific, immune-compatible cardiac patches with blood vessels and, subsequently, an entire heart. The researchers are now planning on culturing the printed hearts in the lab and “teaching them to behave” like hearts. They then plan to transplant the 3D-printed heart in animal models. Heart transplants are the only form of treatment for people with end-stage heart failure and many sick people die while waiting for a transplant, which can take six months or more.