Researchers have printed a functional 3D heart using biological cells from the human body for the first time in medical history. The latest breakthrough in regenerative medicine comes from an Israeli team of researchers who were able to “print” the world’s first vascularized synthetic heart utilizing human cells and biological materials as the 3D printer’s “bioink.” Look into the specifics of this intriguing development.
Researchers Create a Working Human Heart in 3D Printing
In an official research paper published in the Advanced Science Journal, a team of researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) in Israel disclosed the first three-dimensional vascularized artificial heart. TAU researchers were able to engineer a heart, complete with cells, blood vessels, and other functional parts, despite the fact that medical researchers had previously only printed rudimentary tissues without blood vessels.
Professor Tal Dvir, the study’s leader and a professor at TAU’s School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology, stated in a statement, “This is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully created and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood arteries, ventricles, and chambers.”
When it came to “printing” the heart, it was done by separating the cellular and a-cellular components of fatty tissues from patients. The cells were reprogrammed to become pluripotent stem cells, which can differentiate into a range of cell types, allowing them to form a functional organ. Non-cellular materials, such as glycoproteins and collagen, were transformed into a “bioink” for the printer.
The researchers were able to print complicated tissues like cardiac patches and contribute to the building of an artificial human heart by integrating these materials. The image of a human heart in 3D printing is the first of its kind in the world. Reuters is the source of this image.
While this is a significant achievement, you should be aware that there is still much more to be accomplished. This heart, for example, is extremely little, and researchers must continue to nurture the “printed” hearts in the lab, “training them to behave” like human hearts. They’ll also put the 3D-printed hearts inside animal models to see how well they work.
Prof. Dvir predicts that in the next decade, the world’s best institutions will have organ printers to support transplants without donor organs. Patients will no longer need to rely on organ donors if any of their internal organs fail.
