- Researchers from Israel have printed the world’s first three dimensional (3D) heart using a patient’s own cells and biological materials.This medical breakthrough advances the possibilities for heart transplants.
- This is the first time anyone has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells,blood vessels,ventricles and chambers. People have managed to 3D-print the structure of a heart in the past,but not with cells or with blood vessels.
- This 3D printed heart is about the size of a cherry.It was achieved using human tissue that includes vessels,collagen and biological molecules.To print the heart,the scientists had created a personalized hydrogel to form bioinks.The hydrogel originated from fatty tissues extracted from human test subjects.
- However,there are several challenges before the 3D printed hearts will be available for transplant into patients.Researchers should teach the printed hearts to behave like real ones.Then they should transplant them into animal models to test the 3D printed hearts.
- Three-dimensional printing(3D printing) also known as Additive manufacturing(AM) is a process of joining materials to make objects from 3D model data,usually layer upon layer.It is basically a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file
