[ad_1]
Scientists are conducting research using tiny ice sculptures to build blood vessels from human cells. These frigid 3D shapes can be used as temporary scaffolds, as they twist and branch like real arteries, and later melt away and be replaced by living cells.
In a recent study, researchers demonstrated the first step in this blood vessel construction process by creating scaffolds using 3D “ice printing” technology. The scaffolds were then coated with a gel embedded with human cells, which the team allowed to grow for about two weeks.
Ice printing technology could one day be used to create realistic lab-grown blood vessels from human cells that capture the “complex geometry” of the actual vascular network in the body, researchers say. Stated Feimo Yanga doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, told Live Science.
“Right now, this is just a proof of concept,” Yang said, but with further development, the technology could be used to create blood vessels that can be implanted into the human body when arteries and veins need to be repaired, replaced, or bypassed. may be useful.
Related: 3D printed human brain tissue works like the real thing
Currently, doctors harvest blood vessels for transplants from elsewhere in the patient’s body or from a donor. For some procedures, your doctor may: use artificial blood vessels Made from synthetic polymers. Natural materials such as proteins. Or her a mixture of the two. However, these artificial blood vessels do not perfectly reproduce real blood vessels, and may fail because they are not living things.
That’s where ice printing can have an advantage. It could help scientists create more realistic structures from actual human cells.
Ice printing on a small scale could also be useful for making so-called things. organ-on-chip deviceadded Yang. Such devices use fluid flowing through many tiny channels to maintain cell growth and act as miniature models of the organs of the human body.
The team’s new research (which Yang will present at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society in Philadelphia from February 10 to 14) is a 3D model first described in a 2022 paper in the same journal. – Built on a printing technology called ICE. cutting edge science.
Our work on #ice #3Dprinting at #microscale was featured in Additive Manufacturing. “It’s like witnessing something magical…more like it belongs in a nature documentary” #CarnegieMellon #Biomedicine #Microfluidics #AdditiveManufacturing https://t.co/j1u6qM3vLxJanuary 25, 2023
This printer uses water as its “ink” and works by dripping water droplets onto a cold copper surface kept at -31 degrees Fahrenheit (-35 degrees Celsius). As soon as the water droplets hit the surface, they freeze, and each droplet creates an ice sculpture.
Yang said the printer spits out about 200 drops of water every second. This speed is slow enough that one droplet begins to freeze before the next one hits, but it is slow enough that the droplets freeze together in a smooth structure rather than forming a distinct layer. It’s fast.If a drop of water falls too much Rapidly, droplets of one liquid merge with droplets of the next liquid and spread out before freezing, Yang explained.
The droplets themselves are approximately 50 micrometers in diameter, so the resulting structures can be created with micron-level detail. And the printing technology is fast. The sculptures the team created are about 3 millimeters tall and 0.008 inches (0.2 millimeters) in diameter, and “maybe take 20 seconds” to print, Yang said.
Related: ‘Organ-on-a-chip’ shows how the uterus guides and implants embryos during early pregnancy
There are other ice printing techniques that create small sculptures. layer by layer or per volume, but these are not suitable for creating smooth surfaces. In contrast, 3D-ICE can create smooth, free-flowing shapes that are closer to what you see in real life. human circulatory system.
After creating the small sculptures with an ice printer, Yang and his colleagues coated the structures with a gelatin-based material. Their printer specifically uses “heavy water,” where hydrogen atoms are replaced with deuterium, so the ice remains frozen even at temperatures above freezing. This meant the researchers could work at temperatures where the gel remained malleable even when the ice remained frozen.
use ultraviolet lightThey melted the ice and hardened the gel, leaving smooth grooves that closely resembled blood vessels. The team then added cells that line blood vessels, called endothelial cells, to the gel and showed that the cells could grow for two weeks. In the future, they plan to experiment with growing cells for longer periods of time.
It will be some time before 3D-ICE can be used to create blood vessels that go into the body of a human patient, but “hopefully, we can expand the use of this technology,” Yang said. Told.
Have you ever wondered why? Some people gain muscle more easily than others. or Why do freckles stand out in the sun?? Please send us your questions about how the human body works. community@livescience.com You may be able to see the answer to your question on the website by using the subject line “Health Desk Q”.
[ad_2]
Source link
