Researchers from Israel have 3D-printed a heart using human cells. The technique could be (possibly) used to heal hearts or engineer new ones for transplants. The process of printing the heart involved a biopsy of the fatty tissue that surrounds abdominal organs. Researchers separated the cells in the tissue from the rest of the contents, namely the extracellular matrix linking the cells. The cells were reprogrammed to become stem cells with the ability to differentiate into heart cells; the matrix was processed into a personalized hydrogel that served as the printing “ink.”
“This is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers.”-Tal Dvir, senior author of the research.
At this stage, our 3D heart is small, the size of a rabbit’s heart.”(…)”But larger human hearts require the same technology.”-Tal Dvir
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Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez CNN, Researchers 3D-print heart from human patient’s cells https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/15/health/3d-printed-heart-study/index.html published on Apr16 and re-edited by João Andrade on Apr17, 2019;
