Reseachers grow 3D lungs using stem cells

Reseachers grow 3D lungs using stem cells
Three-dimensional lung ‘organoids’ created by group of researchers.

Gomperts and her colleagues, in the study published in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine , started with stem cells created using cells from adult lungs. They used those cells to coat sticky hydrogel beads and then they partitioned these beads into small wells, each only seven millimetres across. Inside each well, the lung cells grew around the beads, which linked them and formed an evenly distributed three-dimensional pattern. To show that these tiny organoids mimicked the structure of actual lungs, the researchers compared the lab-grown tissues with real sections of human lung.‘The technique is very simple. We can make thousands of reproducible pieces of tissue that resemble lung and contain patient-specific cells,’ said Dan Wilkinson, researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles. Moreover, when the researchers added certain molecular factors to the 3D cultures, the lungs developed scars similar to those seen in the lungs of people who have idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis — something that could not be accomplished using two-dimensional cultures of these cells. Also read: 8 surprising diseases stem cells can cure

Source: IANS

Image source: Shuttersrtock

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