United States Scientists use Pig Cells to Develop Artificial Liver

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In a study recently published in the Journal of Hepatology, a team of scientists at Mayo Clinic, a medical research group based in Minnesota, US, describe an artificial liver that they developed as an alternative to transplantation.

The laboratory-made organ, dubbed the Spheroid Reservoir Bioartificial Liver, is essentially a device that uses pig cells to clear a patient's blood of waste and toxins, meaning that it does what the liver is supposed to do in the human body.

By allowing the real organ a break from its daily routine, the Spheroid Reservoir Bioartificial Liver gives it a chance to heal and regenerate, the Mayo Clinic researchers explain.

?The device uses healthy hepatocytes, or liver cells, from pigs to do the job of a normal, healthy liver,? the scientists write in a report detailing their work developing this artificial liver.

?The Spheroid Reservoir Bioartificial Liver that can support healing and regeneration of the injured liver, and improve outcomes and reduce mortality rates for patients with acute liver failure,? they add.

The artificial liver developed by this team of medical experts has so far only been tested on pigs, Science Daily informs. Still, the outcome of these experiments was encouraging enough to warrant a clinical trial involving human patients.