- Scientists used stem cells from pig fat to grow new bone in the laboratory
- The new bone was then used to repair damage to the jaw bones of 14 pigs
- Over the coming weeks new bone then grew to replace the lab bone
- It could repair or replace damaged bones in facial reconstructive surgery
Richard Gray for MailOnline
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It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘saving face’.
Living bone grown from stem cells found in fat could soon be used to help reconstruct the faces of people injured in accidents or who have undergone cancer surgery.
Scientists have for the first time grown large sections of bone in the laboratory before implanting them into pigs to repair damage to their jaws.
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The bone was grown on a scaffold inside a bioreactor (pictured) that kept it under mechanical strain to ensure it grew in a way that would be similar to bone grown in the body. After three weeks it was ready to be implanted
The researchers say the implants can precisely replicate the original anatomical structure of the facial bone they are replacing, meaning facial features can be restored.
HOW TO GROW NEW FACIAL BONES
The researchers initially create a 3D computer model of the facial bones they want to repair.
A robot is then used to carve a scaffold from a piece of cow bone that has had all the cells stripped from it.
Stem cells taken from the fat of the patient are then seeded on the scaffold before being placed in a bioreactor.
The stem cells were encouraged to grow into bone by a combination of nutrients and envronmental changes over the course of three weeks.
The scaffold is subjected to mechanical strain to ensure the new bone and vascular systems grow in a way that mimics that seen in natural bone.
The technique can be used to grow relatively large pieces of bone.
It could mean that patients who have suffered damage to their face in an accident or have been born with defects could have their features reconstructed.
Dr Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, a biomedical engineer at Columbia University who led the work, said: ‘The need is huge, especially for congenital defects, trauma, and bone repair after cancer surgery.
‘So this is a very exciting step forward in improving regenerative medicine options for patients with craniofacial defects, and we hope to start clinical trials within a few years.’
The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, implanted bone grown in laboratory ‘bioreactors’ into 14 Yucatan mini-pigs.
They initially used CT scanners to create a 3D computer model of the animals’ jaws, allowing them to use this to shape a piece of cow bone from which the cells had been stripped.
This leaves just a scaffold into which the researchers placed stem cells taken from the pigs own fat.
This was then placed into a bioreactor where the stem cells were allowed to grow and repopulate the scaffold with bone and blood vessels.
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As the bone crew it was also subjected to loads in the reactor to mimic the kind of stresses it would be under in the body.
This helped to encourage the bone to grow in a more natural way and to provide strength where it was needed.
After three weeks these living pieces of bone were then ready to be implanted into the pigs.
Scientists have grown new bone in the laboratory from stem cells taken from fat. They were able to produce a healthy minteralised matrix and strong vascular supply (pictured) that was then implanted into bigs to repair damage to their jaws. Within hours the animals were then able to eat
Dr Vunjak-Novakovic said that within hours of the surgery the pigs were able to eat.
Over time the lab grown bone was replaced with new bone formed by the body.
Dr Vunjak-Novakovic added: ‘Our lab-grown living bone serves as an ‘instructive’ template for active bone remodeling rather than as a definitive implant.
‘This feature is what makes our implant an integral part of the patient’s own bone, allowing it to actively adapt to changes in the body throughout its life.’
Dr Vunjak-Novakovic and her team are now also developing a way of including cartilage into the bioengineered bone to help repair more complex parts of the head and face.
They have launched a company called epiBone and are planning clinical trials in humans.
The bone scaffold was placed into a bioreactor under strain as shown in the animation above © ColumbiaEngineering
Dr Vunjak-Novakovic added: ‘The quality of the regenerated tissue, including vascularization with blood perfusion, exceeds what has been achieved using other approaches.
‘Tissue engineering is truly changing the way we approach tissue repair, drug testing, disease modelling.
‘In all these diverse areas, we now can put the cells to work for us and make tissues, by providing bioengineered environments that mimic their native milieu.’
Scaffolds that the stem cells were placed into were carved from pieces of decellularised cow bone (pictured)
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