Artificial Limbs Grown in Lab

A major milestone in limb regeneration has been completed recently by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital. Using a complex technique for stripping specialized components of cells of a deceased rat's limbs down to a bare matrix or scaffold, researchers have been able to regenerate entire rat limbs. During the process, more muscle and vascular cells were extracted from a second donor rat and grown in a culture. These cells were then injected into the forming limb and stimulated with an electrical impulse to create the necessary vascular and muscular tissue. 

Although much progress has been made, significant challenges still remain before an actual limb can be implanted on a test subject. The senior author of the paper Dr. Ott explains "Additional next steps will be replicating our success in muscle regeneration with human cells and expanding that to other tissue types, such as bone, cartilage and connective tissue." 

With much at stake for wounded warriors and other amputees, the procedure couldn't come soon enough. In the meantime, the AbilityOne program and other charitable services may help people get by but they cannot replace what nature gave us and science still has a long ways to catch up.