Hot dog!!! We are one step closer to artificial blood vessels. Not the big ol’ fat ones that are relatively “easy” to reproduce but the tiny, fragile, minuscule capillary types that are needed to supply blood within ones body.
Researchers out of MIT, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were able to grow the very tiny vessels out of stem cells and got them to grow along channels and grooves in a lab type setting.
In no way are these “blood vessels” ready to be placed in humans but it is exciting none the less.
via BBC/UK

The first heart transplant was 40 years ago and the patient lasted a little over 2 weeks. That may not have been lengthy but it sure was ground breaking. Now 4 decades later we are performing less and less heart transplants. Why?
Could it be the ability to keep very sick hearts alive and working effectively for longer amounts of time then previous? Quite possibly! Could it be that even though there are more registered organ donors, our organs aren’t exactly what they used to be? High cholesterol, smoking, alcohol abuse and older donors… a different type of death.
What do you …read more

On October 3rd, University of Florida doctors treated their first patient in a new study that is evaluating stem cells and their exact role in regenerating blood flow to the heart. They are testing this new and experimental procedure in patients that continue to live with angina and severe heart disease despite all attempts of medicines and other treatments. Just how will the stem cells work?
“The general idea is that by providing these cells of blood vessel origin, we hope to either generate new blood vessels from the growth of these implanted cells or stimulate the heart to …read more

How do you get around that very ethical debate of using stem cells from embryonic tissue? Well, how about using your own. This application of stem cell transplants is currently being researched in diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. And we can now add damaged heart tissue to the list…
British scientists are to try out a new way to repair damage caused by heart attacks. By injecting patients’ damaged hearts with stem cells from their own bone marrow scientists hope to regenerate tissue.
Researchers are hoping that this pioneering project will put them one step closer to using stem cells …read more