The Bionic Amputee

[RENARDWC at ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu]

I suppose by now you have read the news. It seems that scientists at
Northeastern Ohio University College of Medicine have grown what they
term the first 'actual joint', and with it the potential to grow human
fingers, toes, and "maybe even arms and legs."

In a paper published in the latest Journal of Bone & Joint Diseases. the
scientists explain how they made a joint from what they call 'scaffolds'
that they 'seeded' from the flesh of a calf and then implanted bone,
tendon, and cartilage in the back of a mouse. Stay with me here. It gets
better.

The mouse supplies blood, allowing the calf tissue and cells to develop
and grow into the scaffolds. Over time, the scaffolds are then absorbed
into the new tissue (wheeeeew). After growing for 40 weeks in the mouse,
the components grew together into a 'human-like finger joint'.

William Landin, one of the scientists, claims, "We were surprised by
what we found. This work could eventually mean we would be able to grow
new limbs for paraplegics and amputees, or for people whose bones were
destroyed by disease." Landis is working with Dr. Noritaka Isogai of
Osaka, Japan, and Dr. Joseph Vacanti, a pediatric surgeon, at Boston's
Massachusetts General Hospital.

I am not holding my breath.


Wayne Renardson