Bio-Scaffold Regenerates Rabbit Joints In Vivo While the Rabbits Run
Rabbit Joints Regenerated Using a scaffold inside a living rabbit, researchers were able to stimulate the rabbit's own stem cells to regrow injured joints. via Technology Review Though artificial-joint tech is pretty advanced these days, with titanium hips and knees built to last a decade or more, they won't last forever -- and aging patients will have to go back under the knife for upgrades. Naturally re-growing their own bones would be a nice alternative. For the first time, researchers have proven this can work, by stimulating the body's own stem cells to re-grow joint tissue around an implantable scaffold. In a study published this week in the journal Lancet, scientists report the technique successfully regenerated joints in living rabbits, even as the joints were being used. Columbia University researchers, funded by the National Institutes of Health, removed forelimb thigh joints from 10 rabbits and made 3-D models of...