| archmage | Date: Monday, 20-June-2011, 11:59 PM | Message # 1 |
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-- dragon lord--
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| Scientists have found they can create chimeric animals that have organs belonging to another species by injecting stem cells into the embryo of another species.
The researchers injected stem cells from rats into the embryos of mice that had been genetically altered so they could not produce their own organs, creating mice that had rat organs.
The researchers say the technique could allow pigs to grow human organs from patient's stem cells for use as transplants.
By using a patient's own stem cells it could help to reduce the risk of the transplanted organ being rejected while also providing a plentiful supply of donor organs.
Current organ shortages mean that patients must endure long waiting lists for transplants.
Professor Hiromitsu Nakauchi, director of the centre for stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at the University of Tokyo in Japan and who led the research, said: "Our ultimate goal is to generate human organs from induced pluripotent stem cells.
"The technique, called blastocyst complementation, provides us with a novel approach for organ supply. We have successfully tried it between mice and rats. We are now rather confident in generating functional human organs using this approach."
Full article/source - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science....gh.html
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