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).
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.