Scientists in Japan made a skin by first creating 3-Dimentional clusters of cells that looked like womb embryos. These embryo-like cells were then implanted into mice that had an immune deficiency. It was found that the cells grew some more. So grafts of these cells were put onto bodies of other mice. This completed the cells’ transformation into skin.
Finally, the integumentary tissue was born. This is thickly layered tissues that enable our skin to work as the biggest organ. Dr. Takashi Tsuji, the lead scientist at the RIKEN Center for Development Biology, confirmed that so far the development of artificial skin has been unsuccessful because no skin had hair follicles and exocrine glands. He continued to praise the new technique saying that they had successfully made a skin that performs just like the normal tissue.
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Dr. Takashi expressed his belief that they are almost near creating real organs in the lab for transplantation purposes, and to serve as substitutes for chemical tests on animals.
When the experiment began, cells were extracted from the gums of mice. Then they were converted into induced pluripotent stem cells via exposure to a blend of chemicals. These cells were then forced to become EBs in the lab.
Former similar studies didn’t go beyond growing epithelial cells of the outermost skin layer.
On the other hand, Dr. Takashi’s team discovery consisted of real synthetic skin with hair follicles, sebaceous glands and sweat glands. It made amazing connections with the nearby nerves and muscle tissues.
This study was published in Science Advances journal and is thought to be an answer to patients with severe burns and skin ailments.
