INSTEAD of silicone implants or tissue taken from elsewhere in the patient鈥檚 body, plastic surgeons might soon be using tissue grown from patients鈥� own stem cells.
So claims Jeremy Mao of the University of Illinois, who has tested the idea in mice. He seeded scaffolds with human bone-marrow-derived stem cells and inserted them into mice.
Four weeks later the implants still retained their size and shape. When tissue from a patient鈥檚 body is used for reconstruction, the implants often deform after just a week, and can halve in volume over later years. 鈥淚t seems promising and could soon be making an impact,鈥� Mao told the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Washington DC last week.
Advertisement
