First test-tube grown Human Liver

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Researchers at Wake Forest University have announced this week that they were able to successfully grow a miniature version of the human liver by using immature human liver and endothelial You do not have access to view this node. The team has been working at the university medical center to create the liver sections about half an inch in diameter. This marks the first time that human cells were used to grow a liver. There are millions of people with liver ailments such as liver cirrhosis, waiting for a liver donor.

What were the major problems faced in liver transplant?

It is a major breakthrough as it would eliminate the need for carefully-matched donors, use of powerful immunosuppressant drugs by the patient undergoing the transplantation and prevents the new organ from being rejected by the patient's body. There are issues such as providing nutrition to the cells while growing them in the biorector before a full human liver can be grown.

Do you know the first tests  were conducted on animals? 

Tests have been carried on animal livers which a mild detergent to take off most of the components of liver cells, leaving behind a collagen skeleton. The collagen frame is filled with two types of human cells--immature liver cells known as progenitors, and endothelial cells that line blood vessels. They are still considerable hurdles to overcome before the in vitro procedure can be translated to help human patients. Once successful tests can be done on humans it will also help a lot of animals. Animals are constantly used for tests in biomedical research for conducting tests as it cannot be done on humans due to moral and ethical and legal reasons. There are different types of research that is being done to grow artificial livers and biomedical research in particular has become very important as it will save a lot of lives and pain in the future.

The idea of growing replacement organs may have been first mentioned by the Nobel Laureate Alexis Carrel and aviator and futurist Charles Lindbergh back in 1937 in the book, The Culture of Organs.