[Abstract] American scientists said that in the next few years, 3D printing will assemble complete heart tissue, which can be perfectly integrated with the patient's body.

Organs made from patient cells will address some patients' rejection of donated organs (model)

Tencent Science News (Yuyou / Compilation) According to the British Daily Mail, 3D printers have long been used in the medical field, from human ears to functional valves. Currently, American scientists are using 3D printers to try to create a complete human heart.

Their ultimate goal is to use patient cells to create a new heart tissue through transplantation, first by 3D printing a heart, and then transplanting it into the patient.

The technology is not out of reach, and researchers have now used 3D printers to create splints, heart valves, and even ears. So far, the University of Louisville has successfully printed heart valves and tiny blood vessels with cells, said cell biologist Stuart Williams, who led the study.

They have successfully tested the tiny blood vessels in mice and other small animals, and Williams believes that in the next 3-5 years scientists will be able to print parts of the heart and assemble it into a complete heart tissue. The resulting heart, known as the "biological heart", is a mix of natural and man-made elements.

Professor Williams said the biggest challenge was to integrate the artificial organ into a normal heart. Artificial organs made from patient cells could address the body rejection some patients experience with donated or artificial organs and eliminate the need for drugs to fight rejection. If it goes according to plan, Professor Williams believes the 3D printed heart will be ready for clinical testing within the next 10 years.

He pointed out that 3D printed hearts can be made from cells extracted from a patient's body fat, but there are still a lot of difficulties, including understanding how to keep the tissue alive after the organ is printed. Dr. Anthony Atala, a member of the research team of Wake Forest University in the United States, who used a 3D printer to try to create a human kidney, said: "For complex organs such as kidneys and hearts, the biggest challenge is how to provide them with sufficient oxygen. , until fully integrated with the patient's body."

The 3D printer works in the same way as an inkjet printer, where cells are cleaned and then printed from cut sections, using a computer model to print heart tissue layer by layer. The 3D printer used by Williams uses a mixture of gel and living cells to gradually form the heart structure, and eventually the cells are able to bind together to form the heart tissue.

In an interview with a reporter from Wired magazine, Williams said that the 3D printer can replicate part of the heart tissue, and in the future it will print the entire heart within three hours. But a large number of blood vessels and heart valves need to be printed and assembled individually. 3D printing technology is now used in other fields of medicine, such as: in 2013, Cornell University physicians used living cells to grow human ears.