Stem-cell bone architecture in Helsinki
A team of scientists in Finland have replaced a 65-year-old patient’s upper jaw with a bone transplant made from stem cells taken out of his fatty tissue and grown in his abdomen. After identifying mesenchymal stem cells, which mature into bone, muscle and blood vessels, they cultivated them for two weeks in a nutritious soup that included the patient’s blood serum. Afterwards they attached the cells to a calcium phosphate scaffold and put it inside the patient’s abdomen to grow for nine months, not unlike a bone baby. The block was then transplanted into the patient’s head, using screws for bone and microsurgery for connecting arteries and veins to vessels in the neck. This procedure for treating severe tissue damage brings custom made spare body parts closer to reality.
Finnish patient gets new jaw from own stem cells, Reuters.com