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Miniature human liver developed from stem cells

A team of scientists in a British University have been able to create a small size version of the human liver in a major breakthrough. Though it's a far cry from being useful for a transplant it's a giant leap for the treatment of liver ailments.

The mini liver is the size of a penny coin and was created from the blood in umbilical cords of newborn babies. This was then placed in a NASA bio-reactor. This bio-reactor recreates the atmosphere of weightlessness. In the absence of gravity the cells replicated faster. Then chemicals and hormones were added to the stem cells to cause it to become liver tissue.

The mini liver, thus formed, can be used for testing of drugs used in liver diseases. The current method of testing involves first testing on human cells, then on animals and then used on humans. The scientists, who created the stem cell liver, claim that the pharmaceutical companies can now test on this artificial liver. Both animal and human testing would be unnecessary. They also point out to the recent incident where 6 people on whom tests were being done developed near fatal reactions. Similar incidents could be avoided in the future. The artificial liver can also be used as a dialysis machine to keep the patient's liver going till it heals itself or till a donor liver is available.

This development is significant as the options for the treatment of liver ailments are limited. Adding to that is the fact that nearly 10 percent of the population of Britain suffers from liver ailments, the cause of which is considered to be alcohol consumption and unhealthy lifestyles.

Some sections of the medical profession felt that this achievement was significant from the point of view that it does not use embryos for stem cell growth. On the other hand critics of this method say that since this has not been published it might not be dependable.

(From The Earth Times, 31 October, 2006)

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