Cotton Candy Creates Perfect Blood Vessels

The sweet stuff has been an attraction at fun fairs and various social gatherings for more than 100 years now, but during all this time no one thought that the innocent-looking cotton candy could actually prove one day to be the solution of one of medicine's greatest problems – how to create small and intricate blood vessels, absolutely needed for complicated surgeries such as transplants. Now, researchers in New York believe they may have found a way of turning the candy into veins.

In a preliminary paper published online this week in the journal Soft Matter, researchers Dr. Jason Spector, from the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and colleague Leon Bellan, from the Cornell University, present their newest theory – namely that cotton candy may prove to be invaluable in engineering-replacement tissues in the lab, as well as in creating microscopic blood vessel networks in artificially-grown bones, skin, muscles, or even fat, used in breast reconstructive surgery. Although their idea may seem a bit insane, preliminary results show that it works.

The basic principle of their theory is very simply. They pour a specifically-designed chemical over a wad of cotton candy, which actually solidifies the entire mix. On top of the the resulting bulge, the scientists spray hot water, which melts both the added gel and the sugar the cotton candy is made of. So, what remains behind is the “skeleton” of the sweet, a very intricate ramification of small and very long channels, cleared of all the sugar in them – the perfect blood vessels.

The next step is to inseminate this scaffolding with the desired cells, and to place the mix in a bio-reactor. This will make them grow, and, over time, the scaffolding will degrade and be absorbed. The end-result is a chunk of the required cells, permeated by a complex network of tiny blood vessels, which can perfectly fuel them with nutrients. Basically, this amounts to a replacement organ, be it a liver, a heart, or a kidney. Naturally, several years will pass before the technique is perfected, but the preliminary results are very promising.

As the research proceeds, the two may switch materials, and move on to something a little less sticky. But Bellan says that he plans to stick to cotton candy as long as possible, because the material is inexpensive, compared with the costs the team would have to pay in order to have an artificial scaffolding custom-made for them. “I actually hate cotton candy. It's disgusting. I won't eat it,” he shares.