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Friday, 5 June 2015

World's first biolimb: Scientists create living, functioning rat leg

RT

cientists have created the world's first lab-grown biolimb – a rat leg that circulates blood and responds to stimuli. The breakthrough could lead to amputees one day growing their own replacement limbs.

The rat leg, grown by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, has functioning veins and muscle tissue – but the journey toward a living limb actually began with a dead rat.
 
That journey, led by Dr. Harold Ott for the MGH Department of Surgery and the Center for Regenerative Medicine, will be published in the journal Biomaterials in August. 

First, Ott and his team stripped living cells from a dead rat, using a technique called decellularization. This involved soaking the limbs of the dead rat in a detergent solution for a week. The process exposed the rat's scaffolds, or non-living parts. 

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