Phoenix Heart: Replacing a heart’s cells could ease transplants

In a step toward growing complex organs for transplants, researchers have stripped all the cells from dead rat hearts and injected the gelatinous empty structures with living heart cells from newborn rats. Eight days later, the repopulated hearts were beating, albeit feebly.

EMPTY HEART. Running a detergent through a rat’s heart (left) gradually purges the heart of its cells (center), leaving behind a translucent protein scaffolding (right).