Researchers Successfully Rehab Used Livers into Healthy Organs, and Transplant Them
Washing Out Old Livers An unseeded rat liver has been stripped of its old cells and placed in culture to await a set of new, healthy cells. The pink fluid is a nutrient solution that keeps the organ's architecture alive during the cellular swap. Brittany Sauser Liver disease is the 12th-leading cause of death in the U.S., chiefly because once it's determined that a patient needs a new liver it's very difficult to get one. Even in cases where a suitable donor match is found, there's no guarantee a transplant will be successful. But researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have taken a huge step toward building functioning livers in the lab, successfully transplanting culture-grown livers into rats. The livers aren't grown from scratch, but rather within the infrastructure of a donor liver. The liver cells in the donor organ are washed out with a detergent that gently strips away the liver cells,...