Mini-version of human body part created in Japan

A team of Yokohama City University biologists has successfully created a tiny liver that functions as efficiently as a human one.

The miniature organ was grown by a group of scientists led by Professor Hideki Taniguchi. It is working on creating "mini livers" with a size of several millimeters, using iPS cells.

The induced pluripotent stem cells can develop into various kinds of body tissue.

According to members of Professor Taniguchi’s team, the mini livers can convert ammonia into harmless substances at the same level as cells in human livers.

They also say the capability of the mini livers to generate albumin, a type of protein in blood, doubled.
A clinical study of the “mini-livers” is scheduled to start in 2019. The team plans to transplant multiple tiny livers into patients with severe liver failure.

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