Monday, January 14, 2008

Why not a chickenheart?


Truth be told, I find the regrowth of rat hearts exciting. I suppose I should get out more.

It's important in the world of 21st century hype, to understand what the scientists (Harald Ott and Doris Taylor) didn't do. They didn't grow a new heart in a petri dish. They started with living heart, killed it by stripping out the cells, and regrew functioning cells using the protein matrix (of connective tissue) as a structural guide.

In a way, regrowth would be better, even though it's not as impressive as culturing a new heart. I know I'd much rather have a treatment that repairs my heart than one that replaces it via open heart surgery. But the scientists are working on culturing because of problems with in situ regrowth.

What I'm really looking for is in situ cartilage regrowth, especially in my knees.

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