This amazing video shows lab-grown artificial heart tissue pulsating like a living heart.
-
The heart tissue is grown using pluripotent stem cells.
Stem cells are primitive living cells capable of replicating themselves repeatedly and gradually differentiating into the specialized cells that make up the body's organs.
Stem cells can be embryonic — derived from an embryo in its earliest stages — or pluripotent, meaning ordinary living cells that have been reprogrammed in the laboratory to become stem cells.
-
Growing organs in the laboratory is an especially complex undertaking.
It requires precise conditions of temperature, nutrients, and oxygen, as well as an intricate three-dimensional scaffold on which the artificial organ develops.
Growing a complete heart remains beyond current capabilities, yet the field continues to advance and is already delivering breakthroughs in the testing of drugs and various treatments.