Preserved Topic: test tube kidney (Page 1 of 1)

Just got my hands on this. Looks very promising. Maybe someday they will be able to grow new brains for the thinking impaird.

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Tuesday, 29 January, 2002, 15:58 GMT

Test tube kidneys created

The technique employs cloning technology

Scientists have used cloning technology to create fully functioning kidneys in the laboratory.

They hope the breakthrough could one day help to solve the problem of a severe shortage of donor organs for transplant.

The organs were created from cells taken from a cow's ear.

They were genetically identical to the donor cells and so could be transplanted back into the animal without risk of rejection.

The work has been carried out by Advanced Cell Technology in Massachusetts, the private firm that stirred up controversy last year when they announced the creation of the world's first human embryo clones.

It is estimated that 100,000 people in the UK suffer from some form of severe kidney disease.

The NHS carries out approximately 1,200 kidney transplants a year, but almost 6,000 patients are waiting for a new organ at any one time.

Many die before a suitable organ becomes available.

The ACT team took a single skin cell from the ear of an adult cow.

This was fused with a donated cow egg which had been stripped of its own genetic material.

The scientists then used a jolt of electricity to stimulate the fused cell to become an embryo.

The embryo was rich in stem cells that have the potential to become a wide range of body tissues.

Some of these stem cells were then subjected to secret chemical treatments to turn them into fully mature kidney cells.

They were nurtured on a biodegradable kidney-shaped scaffold designed by a team from Harvard Medical School.

The scientists produced several miniature kidneys each a couple of inches long.

These were transplanted back into the adult animal, alongside its existing organs, where they started to produce urine.

National Kidney Research Fund issued a statement saying it was "very encouraged" that scientists were looking for ways to overcome the organ shortage problem.

But it went on to say: "Once the kidneys have failed a patient needs lifelong treatment via a kidney transplant or dialysis in order to survive and transplantation is the most effective treatment for patients with end-stage renal failure and the only treatment available for end stage liver or cardiac failure.

"The Fund believes, however, that the prospect of growing full size organs that perform all the functions of the native kidneys by cloning technology, like the prospect of an abundant source of animal organs for humans with failure of the kidneys, is a little closer but still a long way off."

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This is scary shit. I can see home grown organs being sold on internet before I hang up my mouse for good

~We're not here for long, we're here for fun~

a kidney is worth about 20000 dollars in the black market.
In spain there are reports of kids that are invited to parties, drugged and wake up in a bathtub filled with ice, lacking more than one vital organ, passing the next decade in an hospital waiting for someone to donate theirs.
"That" is "scary shit".


Hey warjournal ^_^ long time no see

*Excellant* point, Arthemis. People cheating death by giving it to others, not to mention the middle-man making money at someone else's rather extreme expense. Suck situation.

If you want a real scare, I've got doomsdaybug.txt laying around here somewhere.

I don't poke my head in here too often. I usually only start a post when I'm pissed at the web-monkeys, or when my sources give news on medical advances.

the bathtub story has been circulating for several years now. a search of google for "stolen kidneys" brought up 10 pages of stories. the upshot seems to be that the story is just that, a story. too much testing goes on before hand to match a donor with a recipient.

see: http://www.urbanlegends.com/medical/organ.theft/organ_theft_asia.html http://www.urbanlegends.com/medical/organ.theft/baby.parts/baby_parts_myth.html

regarding one reported theft...
" '... it is quite impossible to steal someone's kidney without their knowledge. What's more, there's not exactly a shortage of donors. It's a sad commentary on our poverty, but it's a fact of life. Of course, people can be cheated financially, and perhaps that's what happened.' Velu probably went home and realised he had been underpaid by the agents."

[This message has been edited by velvetrose (edited 01-31-2002).]

edit: took down the text, cause i disliked reading it

[This message has been edited by Arthemis (edited 01-31-2002).]

I do believe that it's possible with our current level of technology, but the given description of the process just doesn't add up......at all.