Methods of generating tissue using devitalized, acellular scaffold matrices derived from micro-organs

Patent Number: 7,297,540

In the area of stem cell biology many say that "microenvironment is everything". In the current patent, the inventors take this literally. They developed a method of taking tissue, decellularizing it, and using it as a scaffold for new stem cells to grow on.

The invention covers such an approach for the generation of "mini-organs" or "micro-organs" including, small subsets of skin, lung, kidney, liver and bone marrow.

What exactly are these "mini" or "micro" organs? Well, according to the specification...they are modifications of the original organ of sufficient size so as to preserve the micro-architecture of the tissue or organ from which they were derived. But they are of dimensions which allow efficient nutrients and wastes exchange by diffusion with the growth medium in which they are kept.

The micro-organs were implanted subcutaneously over a muscle layer in animal models and numerous physiological functions were maintained by the implants. One neat example was the use of the micro-organs to support hematopoiesis in an ectopic location. Such an approach may be useful for pateints with neurodegenerative diseases to as to implant a stable source of growth factors. Alternatively similar approaches may be used to encapsulate islets for diabetes.

View this patent on the USPTO website.