Saturday, April 6, 2013

Researchers create functional human capillaries from adult stem cells

We need this applied to our dead brain areas so when we get neuronal stem cells injected into our brains they will have nourishment.
http://www.stemcellsfreak.com/2013/04/adult-stem-cells-form-human-capillaries.html
One of the biggest problems faced by scientists who try to grow organs in the lab, is forming blood vessel networks that nurish and keep the tissues alive. Today, researchers from the University of Michigan (UM) announced some very promising findings that may help overcome this obstacle. The study also has implications in the treatment of conditions that affect the circulatory system, like diabetes.

Andrew Putnam, chief author of the study, explains why the ability to form functional blood vessels is so important tissue engineering:


"If you don't nourish it with blood by vascularizing it, it's only going to be as big as the head of a pen."
Currently, there are two main approaches that researchers use to grow new capillaries, the smallest blood vessels our body has (5-10 μm in diameter), with their main role being to exchange water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other nutrients and waste chemical substances between blood and surrounding tissues like muscles and organs.
Cross section of a capillary.

More at link.

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