Researchers with the University of Gothenburg in Sweden say blood vessels grown from blood are fully-functional

Oct 25, 2014 20:57 GMT  ·  By
Scientists use stem cells extracted from blood to grow fully-fuctional vessels
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   Scientists use stem cells extracted from blood to grow fully-fuctional vessels

If you think Harry Potter and his crew have some seriously neat tricks up their sleeve, wait till you hear what researchers with the University of Gothenburg in Sweden have been up to lately.

Long story short, these brainiacs have managed to prove to the world that it is possible to use nothing but blood to grow blood vessels that perform just like regular ones when transplanted into a patient's body.

Their work, which many say has high chances to forever transform modern medicine, is presented in a paper published in the journal EbioMedicine earlier this week.

Using blood to grow blood vessels

If you're one of those people who like to keep tabs on what's happening in the world of science in this day and age, you probably know that, in recent years, brainiacs have taken quite a liking to using stem cells to grow all sorts of body parts.

For those unaware, stem cells are found in various tissues. They are basically undifferentiated cells that have the ability to develop into a wide variety of specialized cells that the human body needs to stay up and running.

Not too long ago, researchers Suchitra Sumitran-Holgersson and Michael Olausson used stem cells taken from a patient's bone marrow to grow a blood vessel which they then used to connect their gastrointestinal tract to their liver.

The thing is that, since extracting stem cells from bone marrow is a fairly painful procedure, scientist  Suchitra Sumitran-Holgersson and colleagues decided to investigate whether it might not be possible to obtain them from someplace else.

Sure enough, they found that just two tablespoons of blood were more than enough to land all the stem cells needed to grow a fully-functional blood vessel that would perform just as efficiently as a natural one when transplanted.

Besides, they found that, as opposed to the practice of using stem cells extracted from bone marrow to grow vessels, this innovative technique made it possible to obtain the blood vessel that a patient needed in just a week.

“Drilling in the bone marrow is very painful. It occurred to me that there must be a way to obtain the cells from the blood instead,” specialist Suchitra Sumitran-Holgersson told the press in a recent interview.

“The blood itself accelerated growth of the new vein. The entire process took only a week, as opposed to a month in the first case. The blood contains substances that naturally promote growth,” the researcher went on to explain.

Treating actual human patients

It is understood that, since they first came up with the idea to use blood to grow vessels until now, the scientists behind this research project have used this technique to treat as many as three patients born without a crucial vein.

Of these patients, two have made a remarkable recovery. Thus, the specialists say that the laboratory-made blood vessels transplanted in their bodies are performing as expected. On the downside, one of the patients isn't doing very well, and is now under observation.

The scientists hope that, at some point in the not too distant future, they will be able to use this technique to grow organs. As explained in the journal EbioMedicine, this would eliminate the need to rely on donors to treat various conditions.

“We believe that this technological progress can lead to dissemination of the method for the benefit of additional groups of patients, such as those with varicose veins or myocardial infarction, who need new blood vessels.”

“Our dream is to be able to grow complete organs as a way of overcoming the current shortage from donors,” researcher Suchitra Sumitran-Holgersson commented on the importance of such experiments in a statement.

Photo shows blood vessels grown from stem cells extracted from blood
Photo shows blood vessels grown from stem cells extracted from blood

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Scientists use stem cells extracted from blood to grow fully-fuctional vessels
Photo shows blood vessels grown from stem cells extracted from blood
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