Source: BBC News
Posted: 31 October 2006, 15:06 GMT
Summary:
British Scientists say they have grown tiny sections of human liver using stem cells from umbilical cords. It is hoped the "mini-livers" will be used to test drugs. However, the scientists believe it will be decades before a grown liver can be used in a human transplant operation. Some scientists are calling this a significant ethical advance because embryos were not required to grow the sections of the liver.
Commentary: Maybe this will eventually lead to regeneration and replacement of livers and other organs in humans. It may also end the ethical controversy surrounding embryonic stem cells if scientists can create replacement organs using alternatives to embryonic stem cells, such as the umbilical cord blood stem cells that were used to grow the sections of the human liver in this experiment.
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