Revolutionizing Organ Transplants With Bioprinting
If
you've known someone in need of an organ, then you're familiar with the
struggle of finding a suitable donor. Thousands of people on the transplant
list are waiting for critical body parts, but, unfortunately, there aren't
enough to fill that demand.
What
if instead of waiting, doctors can just make a brand new, customized organ for
each patient? That's the idea behind Bioprinting, a branch of medicine that
attempts to replace vitals by regenerating tissue cells. These lab-grown body
parts get transplanted into the recipient. Read on to learn more about the
technology and the science behind it.
An Overview of Bioprinting
Scientists
used to grow tissues inside their laboratories in an attempt to create
something useful in the medical field. A few decades later, their goal remains
the same, but their methods have significantly upgraded. From 2D cultures in
Petri dishes, they're now able to make 3D body parts and organs using
Bioprinting. It's a type of additive manufacturing that uses living human
tissues as a bio-ink.
These cell samples can be taken from a donor or the patient themselves.
It
works similarly to the best 3D printing service in California today. You make a
digital model of the body part you want to produce, enter its data in a
computer, and then print it with a piece of equipment. The machine creates a
physical copy of the object, layer by layer. The difference is, since you're
using ink that has living cells in it, the end product will continue to grow
and function as a normal organ after it's transplanted on a patient.
Solving Biocompatibility Issues
Aside
from the waiting game, there are other disadvantages to traditional
transplants. One of the most significant is the biocompatibility issue, where a
recipient's body rejects incoming organs because their cells don't match. The immune
system treats the donated structure as a foreign object, attacking and
destroying it until it's eliminated.
For kidneys, around 25-30% of patients experience episodes of severe rejection within the first year of their operation. And, for heart transplants, those numbers can go as high as 40%.
With
Bioprinting, rejection won't become an issue since doctors can use the
recipient's cells as the bio-ink. That means the 3D-printed organ matches the
patient's biological makeup.
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