Health Issue: Creation Of Artificail Tissues

Soon, Lab-made cornea to offer a ray of hope Creation Of Artificial Tissues Will End Reliance On Donations Beijing: Chinese scientists are cultivating human cells in a laboratory in a bid to produce artificial cornes, bringing hope to over five million people suffering from corneal blindness in the country.       The cornea, a vulnerable shield protecting the eye, plays a key role in creating vision. The team from Ocean University of China (OUC) is expected to produce a complete cornea and begin clinical trials in three to five years. Fan Tingjun, deputy dean of College of Marine Life Science at OUC, said.       An artificial cornes, each expected to cost $1,475 to $2,950, would provide analternative to those patients anxiously awaiting donated corneas for transplant, Fan said. The team had made a major breakthrough recently by using tissue-engineering technologies to create a tissue similar to the endothelium, the innermost layer of cells essential in keeping the cornes clear, Fan said. The creation of endothelium was a key barrier in the global study of artificial corneas because the cells of the endothelium do not regenerate, he said.       The team has successfully cultivated a large quantity of normal human endothelieal cells with the assistance of supports made of human amnion - innermost membranous sac enclosing the developing embryo.        Now the team is working on the production of stroma, which accounts for 90% of the thickness of the cornea and serves as a bridge between the endothelium and epithelium, the outmost layer of the cornes, to block outside dust and bacteria from reaching the eye, as well as absorb oxygen and cell nutrients from tears.