New Soft Tissue May Progress Towards Usable Artificial Tissue

May 16th, 2009

Growth of tissue and organs has a bit of a glitch that makes it hard to recreate certain tissues. Our body tissues have both hard and soft tissues that are not easy to replicate with compatible characteristics.

A new study may have helped progress that problem and we may be even closer to compatibility than ever before. Turn on your home alarm system because this is some in depth study .

A team of Australian and Korean researchers led by Geoffrey M. Spinks and Seon Jeong Kim has now developed a novel, highly porous, sponge-like material whose mechanical properties closely resemble those of biological soft tissues. It consists of a robust network of DNA strands and carbon nanotubes.

Soft tissues, such as tendons, muscles, arteries, and skin or other organs, obtain their mechanical support from the extracellular matrix, a network of protein-based nanofibers. Different protein morphologies in the extracellular matrix produce tissue with a wide range of stiffness. Implants and scaffolding for tissue growth require porous, soft materials — which are usually very fragile. Because many biological tissues are regularly subjected to intense mechanical loads, it is also important that the implant material have comparable elasticity in order to avoid inflammation. At the same time, the material must be very strong and resilient, or it may give out.