It is understood that European scientists are conducting an experiment called “ellipsoid” on the International Space Station, aiming to cultivate artificial blood vessels for human surgery. This experiment will promote human organ transplantation and the production of new drugs, and related new knowledge will also benefit astronauts.
On the earth, most technologies that use human cells to grow three-dimensional structures require biocompatible scaffolds. Scientists use them to determine the shape of tissues and help cells adhere to each other; the “ellipsoid” experiment shows that, Growing cells under microgravity does not require external support, and primitive blood vessels can naturally form. The weightlessness and insufficient convection environment on the track are ideal conditions for studying these three-dimensional complex structures.
The “ellipsoid” experiment was carried out on the International Space Station in 2016. This experiment aims to study how endothelial cells, the cells that form the inner layer of blood vessels, react in the microgravity environment on the International Space Station. Endothelial cells control the contraction and expansion of blood vessels and regulate blood flow and blood pressure.
Human cells grown in space will aggregate into a tubular structure, similar to the inner layer of blood vessels in the human body. In the “ellipsoid” experiment, the cells will grow for 12 days in the European Space Agency’s Kubik incubator. “These tubular aggregates are like primitive blood vessels,” said Danila Gemm of Otto von Gureck University in Magdeburg, Germany. This is something that scientists who cultivate cells on Earth have never achieved before.
Marcus Wieland of the same university said: “We learned new knowledge about the tube formation mechanism, and the results confirmed that gravity has an effect on the way key proteins and genes interact.” Marcus said: “We are training Different cells to improve tissue engineering methods for artificial blood vessels.”
Cultivating blood vessels in space can help transform human tissues for transplantation or new drug production, and ultimately help patients in need of transplantation to replace damaged blood vessels.
(Editor in charge: admin)
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