
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...ed-organs.html
Scientists have grown a liver in a laboratory, offering fresh hope to hundreds of thousands of patients with diseased and damaged organs.
It raises the prospect of those in need of transplants one day being offered livers that are ‘made to order’.
The first pieces of lab-grown livers could be used in hospitals within just five years, the researchers said.
Patches of artificial tissue could be used to repair livers damaged by injury, disease, alcohol abuse and paracetamol overdose.
HOW TO GROW OWN LIVER
1. Donated but damaged liver bathed in detergent to remove the cells.
2. All that remains is a 'scaffold' made of collagen and blood vessels.
3. Scaffold is seeded with healthy liver cells, made from the stem cells created from the patient's skin.
4. The new liver is used to replace the patient's damaged one. As it is made from their own cells, the body will not reject it.
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