# video | Created "breathing" analogue of the human lung

Scientists from Rice University used3D printing technology to create a miniature analogue of the human lung. The artificial organ turned out to be quite tiny - no more than a coin, but as the Popular Mechanics portal notes, in the future this revolutionary model can have a serious impact on the development of transplantology and moving away from the shortage of organs needed for transplantation.

Only in the USA alone are your turn for transplantation.114,000 people are awaiting certain organs. In addition, during organ transplantation, people have to take special medications that block the body's rejection of new transplanted organs. According to scientists, bio-printed organs will be able to solve both problems.

“One of the main obstacles to creatingAn analogue of a functioning living tissue turned out to be the inability to print complex vascular systems, which in the body serve to transport blood, air, lymph and bile. For example, the respiratory tract of the lungs is closely related to blood vessels, which allows oxygen to be enriched with blood, ”comments development Jordan Miller, professor of bioengineering at the Rice University Bioengineering School, who helped lead this project.

To solve the problem that many have foughttransplantologists, researchers have developed a new open source bioprinting technology. It was named SLATE (“stereolithography for tissue engineering”). In the process of bioprinting using SLATE, the layers of fabric are printed one by one using a special hydrogel and then processed with blue light, which makes them solid.

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To demonstrate the concept of work scientistsprinted artificial fabric imitating lungs. It is noted that the artificial organ was strong enough to withstand the rhythm of breathing, and in its artificial vessels there was enough space to move the red blood cells (erythrocytes) that deliver oxygen through the body.

Compare the size. The artificial lung turned out no more than a coin, but it has the functionality of the present - it “breathes”, and blood flows through its artificial vessels.

“We are only at the very beginning of our research on the architecture of the human body. We still have a lot to learn, ”Miller comments.

Researchers point out that this technology3D bioprinting can be used not only to create functional organons for transplantation, but also to create organ models for studying various diseases, for example, the same cancer.

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