Biotech company BIOLIFE4D from Chicago announced the successful creation of a small replica of the human heart using a 3D bioprinter. A tiny heart has the same structure as a full-sized human organ. The company called this achievement an important milestone on the path to creating an artificial heart suitable for transplantation.
The artificial heart was printed using the patient's heart muscle cells, called cardiomyocytes, and bioink made from an extracellular matrix that mimics the properties of a mammalian heart.
BIOLIFE4D bioprinted human heart tissue for the first time in June 2018. Earlier this year, the company created individual 3D components of the heart, including valves, ventricles, and blood vessels.
This process involves reprogramming the patient's white blood cells (leukocytes) into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC or iPS), which can differentiate into various cell types, including cardiomyocytes.
As a result, the company plans to produce a fully functional human heart using 3D bioprinting. Theoretically, artificial hearts made in this way could reduce or eliminate the need for donor organs.
Of course, BIOLIFE4D isn't the only company pursuing 3D printed artificial organs.
Earlier this year, researchers from Tel Aviv University using a 3D printer, a living heart the size of a rabbit's heart, and biotechnologists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have managed to create complex vascular networks using 3D printing, similar to those needed to keep artificial organs functioning.
Source: 3dnews.ru