2023-10-02 19:04:00
Stanford researchers are preparing to conduct an unprecedented experiment that might open the way for implant technologies in medicine — they will place a human heart made in a 3D printer in a pig. The idea is to test whether the organ will be able to function and, from there, develop more research involving body parts produced with these technologies, which might one day extend to human medicine.
The issue of compatibility between human and pig hearts is already present in everyday life in the area, with two patients who have already received organs in transplants. The University will conduct this research using federal funding worth close to R$130 million.
The idea is to use an automated bank of bioreactors to cultivate all the cells required to produce a human heart, including ventricular and atrial cardiomyocytes, responsible for contracting the heart while it beats.
There are also nodal cells, which generate electrical signals and act as natural pacemakers, cells that form Purkinje fibers, which conduct signals, in addition to smooth muscle cells, immune cells called macrophages and endothelial cells that line blood vessels. .
From this, the cells would be the raw material for the bioprinter that will produce the 3D organs. Bioreactors would, according to scientists, be capable of producing these cells by the billions, making it possible to print a heart every two weeks. After printing, the organs must be analyzed and improved in the laboratory before implantation.
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