The supply for heart transplants are increasing, and the supply does not meet the need. How to fix this problem? That's what researchers went out to find and the soul solution is too just take an old one and make it into the new.
How Researchers do it?
What they do is take a human cadaver heart and strip it of its cells. The process is called decellularization and is done by bathing the organ in a pool of detergent. It leaves behind just a heart with just its connective tissue shell, also known as a "ghost heart." Researchers then inject the heart with stem cells that they have taken from patients, but they first let the cells mature and nourish. As the cells are injected, the most amazing thing happens and goes to show how amazing cells are. These stem cells recognize the heart structure and start to form into heart muscle cells, which create the beating of the heart.
Now real human hearts have not become strong enough yet to actually start beating, but they have had luck with a rat and pig hearts. Only problem is that the heart is too weak to provide the animals with the functions of a normal heart. If they could only get it beating. But if they do then there still in the process of getting oxygen too all the little cervices of the body. Hopefully one day soon in the near future they can discover this mystery...
This topic really strikes me and who knows maybe one day I will be up there trying to solve this problem if they already haven't. Just think of how many lives would be saved from this miracle. It would definitely
be a huge break in medical history. I already have one idea on how to make it work, maybe if researchers give the stem cells more nutrients to grow and become stronger. I would have no idea how to even do that, but who knows it could work. Any suggestions?
Now real human hearts have not become strong enough yet to actually start beating, but they have had luck with a rat and pig hearts. Only problem is that the heart is too weak to provide the animals with the functions of a normal heart. If they could only get it beating. But if they do then there still in the process of getting oxygen too all the little cervices of the body. Hopefully one day soon in the near future they can discover this mystery...
This topic really strikes me and who knows maybe one day I will be up there trying to solve this problem if they already haven't. Just think of how many lives would be saved from this miracle. It would definitely
be a huge break in medical history. I already have one idea on how to make it work, maybe if researchers give the stem cells more nutrients to grow and become stronger. I would have no idea how to even do that, but who knows it could work. Any suggestions?