Scientists transform blood into regenerative materials, paving the way for personalized, 3D-printed implants
This really sounds like something out of science fiction: personalized blood products that can be used to treat injury and disease.
Now it looks like we can drop the word “fiction.” As reported here, “Scientists have created a new ‘biocooperative’ material based on blood, which has been shown to successfully repair bones, paving the way for personalized regenerative blood products that could be used as effective therapies to treat injury and disease.”
According to the article, our body tissues can already “regenerate ruptures or fractures with remarkable efficacy, as long as these are small in size.” It’s a complex process, though, relying on liquid blood forming solid regenerative hematoma (RH), a “living microenvironment” consisting of cells, macromolecules and factors that create regeneration.
But can this be done synthetically? Researchers from the schools of pharmacy and chemical engineering at the University of Nottingham mixed synthetic peptides (short chains of amino acids) with whole blood to create a material that can mimic the natural RH. It “harnesses key molecules, cells and mechanisms of the natural healing process.”
From the article: “These materials can be easily assembled, manipulated, and even 3D printed while maintaining normal functions of the natural RH, such as normal platelet behavior, generation of Growth factors, and recruitment of relevant cells important for healing. With this method, the team has shown the capacity to successfully repair bone in animal models using the animal’s own blood.”
The article quotes Alvaro Mata, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Biomaterials at the University of Nottingham: “For years, scientists have been looking at synthetic approaches to recreate the natural regenerative environment, which has proven difficult given its inherent complexity. Here, we have taken an approach to try to work with biology instead of recreating it. This ‘biocooperative’ approach opens opportunities to develop regenerative materials by harnessing and enhancing mechanisms of the natural healing process. In other words, our approach aims to use regenerative mechanisms that we have evolved with as fabrication steps to engineer regenerative materials.”
Adds Dr. Cosimo Ligorio from the university’s Faculty of Engineering: “The possibility to easily and safely turn people’s blood into highly regenerative implants is really exciting. Blood is practically free and can be easily obtained from patients in relatively high volumes.Our aim is to establish a toolkit that could be easily accessed and used within a clinical setting to rapidly and safely transform patients’ blood into rich, accessible, and tunable regenerative implants.”
Of course this has implications for all age groups, not just SuperAgers. But with SuperAgers’ particular vulnerabilities to weaknesses and injuries to bones, the story is especially important. We’ll watch to see what therapies develop.
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