The new procedures have been developed by the Leipzig biophysicist Dr. Mareike Zink, along with the graduate student Valentina Dalla Casa Grande, supervised by Prof. Dr. Josef Alfons Käs from the Department of Physics and Earth Sciences and Prof. Andreas Reichenbach from the Paul Flechsig Institute, in cooperation with the research group of Prof. Stefan Mayr from the Leibniz Institute for Surface Modification and the Translational Centre for Regenerative Medicine (TRM). One can imagine the nanostructured hard substrate similar to a slide on which the tissue is brought for breeding.

For decades, researchers let tissue grow on a membrane, which is supplied from below with nutrient solved in liquid, so that the oxygen supply can be further ensured from the upper side. The nutrient solution penetrates from below through the filter, thus supplying the tissue. So far complex tissue structures are viable for only a few days.

The researchers tested the new method using organs of slaughtered animals. However, the method is also suitable for using human organs of deceased patients, which are not suitable for transplantation for various reasons, or applicating sick organs for study purposes (e. g. cultivation as for atherosclerosis) for a longer period (two weeks) without losing their full functional capacity. So far, researchers could use organs only for a period of 3 days to one week maximum, then adverse effects in function and degeneration processes occured. The new method is suitable to perform 10 trials.

The research team has designed their method specifically for the cultivation of whole organs. Another research group located in Erlangen is working on the application of this method for primary cell cultures.

For more information:

Dr. Mareike Zink

Phone: +49 341 97-3257 3
E-mail: zinc [at] physik.uni-leipzig.de

Source (in german): http://idw-online.de/