Lab Grown Organs amid Shortages

　　Researchers around the world are now working on trying to perfect the development of synthetic¹ complex organ parts.

 

　　CRI's Laiming explains.

 

　　The Red Cross Society of China has announced the country's first online volunteer organ-donor² registry this month, amid a shortage of organs for transplant. But China is not the only country facing this difficulty; in the United States, chronic³ shortages have pushed scientists to tap into the body's own ability to regenerate⁴ itself.

 

　　Researchers at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina are trying to grow organs in a lab. Using a process called "decellularisation" on pig livers, the doctors strip the pig's cells off its liver but leave the underlying⁵ structure behind.

 

　　The hope is to seed the remaining structure with human liver cells to see if those cells will grow and multiply into a fully⁶ functioning human liver. PhD candidate Abritee Dhal at Wake Forest University explains their choice of test animal:

 

　　"Pigs, their size is closer to a human liver. So if we're able to decellularise and put human cells back in there, it could help with the shortage of organs."

 

　　The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is also trying to make kidneys with the use of a 3D printer. The "ink" that comes out of the printer is made of various cells and a gel-like material to help support them.

 

　　The ability to grow and implant⁷ complex organs like hearts, lungs, livers and kidneys in humans is still a long way off. But there has been some success so far in creating simpler, hollow body parts. For example, there are people living with custom-made, lab-grown blood vessels⁸, windpipes and bladders in the US.

 

　　To engineer those, scientists can take cells from a patient's own bone marrow⁹ or a biopsy of the needed body part and grow those cells on a biodegradable, synthetic scaffold. The scaffold is produced by a 3D printer in the exact size and shape needed.

 

　　Director of the Institute Dr. Anthony Atala explains how the biodegradable scaffold works:

 

　　"Our preference is to use a patient's own cells, and the patient's own organ specific cells because those cells already know what to do. A windpipe cell already knows that it's a windpipe cell, and it's going to create a windpipe cell for that patient that will not be rejected or kicked out."

 

　　With luck, this may help end the waiting game for donor organs, which some patients unfortunately never receive.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Luo Laiming.

1 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

2 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

3 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

4 regenerate   

vt.使恢复，使新生；vi.恢复，再生；adj.恢复的

参考例句：

• Their aim is to regenerate British industry.他们的目的是复兴英国的工业。
• Although it is not easy,you have the power to regenerate your life.尽管这不容易，但你有使生活重获新生的能力。

5 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 implant   

vt.注入，植入，灌输

参考例句：

• A good teacher should implant high ideals in children.好教师应该把高尚理想灌输给孩子们。
• The operation to implant the artificial heart took two hours.人工心脏植入手术花费了两小时。

8 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 marrow   

n.骨髓；精华；活力

参考例句：

• It was so cold that he felt frozen to the marrow. 天气太冷了，他感到寒冷刺骨。
• He was tired to the marrow of his bones.他真是累得筋疲力尽了。