Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine - Essay Example

Even in those cases where patients have been able to afford such transplants, other problems such as organ rejection and incompatibility have deprived them of their precious lives. The gravity of this situation has led to unrelenting research on stem cells, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine, which are promising and hopeful alternatives to organ transplants. By 2009, in the United States, about 50 million people had survived because of some or the other form of “artificial organ therapy” (Khademhosseini, Vacanti and Langer, 2009).

This gives a clear indication that artificial organs are the hope of the future. This research proposal aims at providing a brief yet objective overview of how an organ can be fabricated by starting with single cells and proceeding to tissue replacement. The proposal is intended to explain how vital organs can be fabricated through bioengineering. The solutions for problems that are usually encountered during fabrication of living organs are also dealt with. Important challenges include optimization of the decellularization process for the preservation of vascular architecture and for limiting immunogenicity.

Overall, this proposal gives a precis on solving cardiovascular diseases by stem cells, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Approach to organ fabrication 1. Procurement of stem cells The first step would be to procure embryonic stem cells that would act as progenitors for the cardiac cells. With the help of embryonic stem cells, it is possible to generate both mature cardiocytes as well as the vasculature (Ott et al, 2007). The most appropriate conditions for the growth of these stem cells will be identified and these will be allowed to grow, mature and differentiate before being seeded on a protein matrix for tissue formation. 2. Identification of suitable decellularization procedure for obtaining protein matrix The protein matrix for the generation of tissue and vasculature will be obtained from dead hearts procured from appropriate facilities.

Using suitable detergents and chemical treatments, the organs will be decellularized to reveal the protein matrix. Various techniques will be tested before arriving at the most appropriate decellularization agent. 3. Seeding of the protein matrix with progenitor cells The protein matrix will then be seeded with the cardiocytes so that they can naturally develop into tissues and vasculature of a natural heart. Because of the provision of a natural protein matrix and scaffold material derived from a real heart, it will be easier for the cardiocytes to grow three-dimensionally through a natural mechanism. 4. Testing the functionality of the artificially produced organ The functionality of the manufactured heart will be tested and monitored for normalcy of pulse rate and other vital parameters. 5. Animal studies The artificially produced hearts will be transplanted into adult mice and will be tested for development of immunogenicity and health parameters.

Possible Problems during Fabrication A major problem during fabrication of an artificial organic heart would be to achieve appropriate tissue vascularization having the vascular structure of a natural