ARTIFICIAL ORGANS

ARTIFICIAL ORGANS (REGENERATIVE MEDICINE)

Scientists are calling regenerative medicine the "Holy Grail" of stem-cell research! The field of regenerative medicine works under the theory that organs can be grown outside the body. This science could revolutionize organ transplants.

Regenerative medicine is the process of creating living, functional tissues to repair or replace a tissue or an organ function lost due to damage, or congenital defects. This field holds the promise of regenerating damaged tissues and organs in the body by stimulating previously irreparable organs to heal themselves.

Regenerative medicine also empowers scientists to grow tissues and organs in the laboratory and safely implant them when the body cannot heal itself. Regenerative medicine has the potential to solve the problem of the shortage of organs available for donation compared to the number of patients that require life-saving organ transplantation, as well as solve the problem of organ transplant rejection, since the organ's cells will match that of the patient.

An artificial organ is a man-made device that is implanted or integrated into a human to replace a natural organ, for the purpose of restoring a specific function or a group of related functions so the patient may return to as normal a life as possible.

Let’s take a look at an artificial bladder.

On April 4, 2006, it was announced that a team of biologists at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, led by Professor Anthony Atala, had created the world's first lab-grown organ, a bladder, and transplanted it into a human. Seven people between the ages four and 19, received transplants. The bladders were grown from a small sample of the patients' own bladder tissue, so there was no risk of transplant rejection. Usually, damaged urinary bladders are stitched back together using other tissue from the stomach or intestine. Patients with bladders made of intestinal tissues suffer unpleasant side-effects because intestinal tissues reabsorb chemicals that are meant to be eliminated through the urine.

Professor Atala and his team successfully extracted muscle and bladder cells from several patients’ bodies, cultivated these cells in petri dishes, and then layered the cells in three-dimensional molds that resembled the shape of bladders. Within a few weeks, the cells in the molds began functioning as regular bladders which were then implanted back into the patients’ bodies.

Artificial Organs
Pros	Cons
Allows the patient to possibly conquer a disease or illness	Possible presence of latent or hidden disease or illness in the base tissue (if the foreign body tissue used to reconstruct a particular organ or tissue is infected or hiding a disease)
Has the possibility of prolonging life and making the general quality of life better	Ethical issues
Can help burn victims regenerate skin
Organ transplant lists will become unnecessary
Solve the problem of organ transplant rejection because the organ’s cells with match that of the patient
Solve the problem of the shortage of organs available for donation compared to the number of patients that require life-saving organ transplantation