Future of organ transplants lies in regenerative medicine, Mexican experts say

The future of organ transplants lies in regenerative medicine, the branch that studies engineering or regenerating cells, tissue and organs, according to Mexican medical experts.

Maria Cristina Pina Barba, from the Materials Research Institute at Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM), said the science can use stem cells to regenerate the damaged part of organs, such as hearts or kidneys.

Some 12,431 kidneys are needed each year in Mexico for transplant operations, as well as 58 hearts, 7,396 corneas, 404 livers and three lungs.

But it is regenerative medicine, not organ donorship, that can ultimately save thousands of lives, Mexican state news agency Notimex cited Pina as saying on Saturday.

The research institute, she said, is focusing on combining stem cell techniques with ways to regenerate tissues to repair organs.

Researchers at the university's Biomaterials Laboratory create and test different vehicles to see which type is best for depositing stem cells.

Since 1996, Pina and her colleagues have been using a technique known as decellularization of donated organs to create a vehicle for stem cells.

"We begin by decellularizing bovine bone, and we have also done it with tracheas, kidneys, livers and hearts. We strip the calcium from the hard bone tissue and you are left with a sponge of collagen (into which stem cells are deposited). We give it the form of the organ needed and in two months there is tissue formation," Pina told the agency.

"This process is a possible solution to tracheal disorders caused by ... cancer, stenosis (abnormal narrowing) and traumas that can lead to respiratory diseases and even death," said Pina. Enditem