Researchers Grow Human Ear on a Rat
(Photo: Getty Images)
Cool—and/or creepy—news out of Japan, where researchers at the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University have created a human ear … on the back of a rat. The researchers used stem cells that grew into ear cartilage, shaping the cells into an ear by putting them in “biological tubing,” Discovery News reports.
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More specifically, they used “induced pluripotent stem cells,” which the National Institutes of Health explains are “adult cells that have been genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell-like state.” The ear-shaped cartilage was implanted under a rat’s skin, where it was allowed to grow for two months; the tubing dissolved and a 2-inch-long ear was left behind.
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The researchers believe this technology could be used to treat people who are born with no ears or with smaller-than-normal ears, Japan Today reports. It could also be used to repair ears disfigured in accidents, Discovery adds. In the case of a child born with a missing or misshapen ear, the researchers note that the ear they created is “living,” and thus would develop and grow along with the child. A clinical trial involving humans is expected to start in five years.
Image courtesy of University of Tokyo and Kyoto University via Discovery News
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In 2013, researchers in Boston used sheep cells, bovine collagen, and an ear-shaped titanium wire frame to grow an ear on the back of another rat, Discovery notes. (These creatures can grow the heads and brains of other species.)
By Evann Gastaldo
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This article originally appeared on Newser: Researchers Grow Human Ear on a Rat
