Artificial Blood Vessels

Artificially engineered body parts have always piqued the interest of scientists in the field of biomedical sciences.

Despite the progress made, researchers are yet to find a way to supply artificial tissue with the nutrients they need.

Researchers from five Fraunhofer institutes in Germany seem to have hit upon a brilliant answer to this problem.

Progress in rapid prototyping has helped researchers with the possibility of printing virtually any organ quickly. The process employs an inkjet printer to apply various flexible, elastic, and biocompatible polymers in layers which will ultimately create a 3D shape.

To develop the system of capillaries required to make the artificial organ function, scientists employ a process named as multiphoton polymerization.

What we have is a complete artificial organ made of polymers and biomolecules which is anatomically correct, and can also carry nutrients.



Source: Medindia