Scientists have grown a beating heart in a laboratory for the first time. The breakthrough offers hope to thousands suffering from coronary disease that they might one day be offered a “made to order” transplant.
It also paves the way for other organs such as livers, lungs or kidneys to be grown.The experiments, which were carried out on animal hearts, are still in the early stages and experts say a human transplant using a laboratory-grown organ is still many years away. Although there have been huge advances in growing heart tissue, creating a three-dimensional organ had proved impossible until now.
The new technique involves stripping away the cells from a dead donor heart to leave behind a “skeleton” of connective tissue.
This is then injected with young, healthy heart cells which multiply and spread to create a new living heart.
Dr Harald Ott, from the University of Minnesota, which took part in the study, said: “When we saw the first contractions we were speechless.”
In the experiment, reported today in the journal Nature Medicine, the scientists stripped the cells from a pig’s heart using a powerful detergent.
