The culture of tissues in a fibrin gel, which is gently stretched along with the growth of cells, results in the formation of a cellular system similar in its three-dimensional structure to tendons. This type of technology may, in a few years’ time, result in the possibility of regenerating damaged tissues in vitro – e.g. tendons that are difficult to regenerate – writes Soft Matter.
Although living organisms, including humans, have great regenerative abilities, there are tissues whose damage is practically impossible to repair. One of the examples are tendons, the destruction of which is a very big problem for XNUMXst century medicine.
Work on a system that would allow the reconstruction of damaged tendons is carried out, among others, by scientists from Osaka University in Japan.
They built a device in which cells are grown in such a way that they stretch and the resulting tissues have a three-dimensional structure similar to tendons.
The secret of the success of Japanese scientists is fibrin gel, in which cells (e.g. bone marrow) are cultured. The gel contains substances that enable the cells to survive.
During the growth of the cells contained in the gel, the fibrin gel is slightly stretched using a device constructed by Japanese scientists. During cultivation, the tensile force of the gel is increased so that the cells growing in the gel elongate according to the applied force. As a result, the growing cells form tissue with an elongated three-dimensional structure similar to that of tendons.
According to scientists, this type of device may in the future be used as a system for in vitro reconstruction (outside the body) of damaged tendon fragments. However, scientists warn against being overly optimistic, as there is a time gap (5-10 years) between successfully completed laboratory tests and a ready-to-use medical product, which is filled with countless tests, including clinical trials (PAP).