Growing New Blood Vessels & LiversBy Margot Kim
09/21/2007 - SEATTLE (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Damaged livers and
diseased blood vessels are two common medical problems, but now, two
new breakthroughs could help patients live longer, healthier lives.
Three years ago, life threw Mari Jo Fraser a curve ball. Her liver
was failing. "It was just pure, acute liver failure," she says. A
liver transplant was the only way to save Fraser's life.
Now, researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle are
working on an alternative. Scientists grow human liver stem cells and
inject them into lab mice induced with liver damage. The stem cells
replace thousands of dead liver cells, a technique that could someday
repair severely damaged human livers.
"It could be a permanent solution for them, or at least serve as a
bridge until a transplantation can be done," says Nelson Fausto,
M.D., lead researcher at the University of Washington.
The stem cells can also be manipulated to repair bone, cartilage, and
other damaged tissue in the body.
In a separate project, researchers involved in the Hope Heart Program
at the Benaroya Research Institute are growing artificial blood
vessels that could replace damaged ones in the future.
"You can control the production of the structure of the vessel much
more precisely and make it stronger," says Thomas N. Wight, Ph.D.,
lead researcher at the Hope Heart Program at the Benaroya Research
Institute.
The process begins when scientists take cells from tissue, grow them
into sheets, and form them into tubes. The process could help
patients with damaged blood vessels or those with clogged arteries.
"It's like having a new vessel inserted rather than taking a vessel
that's aged, for example, in another part of the body," says Wight.
Right now, both of the aforementioned research projects are being
tested in lab rats, but the researchers hope to start testing in
humans within the next few years.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts
by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on:
http://www.ivanhoe.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Clare Hagerty
PR Specialist
(206) 953-8532
http://abclocal.
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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