Japanese scientists claim that artificial ears can be grown to order and transplanted to humans in the next five years. They've recently grown a human pinna on the back of a rat.
The technology, developed by experts at Tokyo and Kyoto Universities, can be used to help children born with facial defects, as well as older people who have suffered as a result of some accidents (for example, those who have lost their ear after a dog attack, combat injury or car accident).
At the moment, the "new" ear is being recreated from cartilage taken from the patient's rib. In this case, it is necessary to carry out several operations, and the recovery period is painful, long and difficult. The technique proposed by the Japanese requires only a small cell sample from the patient as a starting material.
Scientists have reprogrammed adult cells in the human body into cartilage cells. In the laboratory, cartilage tissue was then grown from the culture, from which tiny balls were created. They were placed in a plastic tube with a diameter of three millimeters, and three such tubes were arranged in the shape of an ear. After two months, the form dissolved, leaving a five-centimeter organ on the animal's back.
The finished ear is viable and can develop with the child.
Recall that earlier, some American scientists have already managed to grow an artificial ear in a Petri dish, and others have it printed on a 3D printer. Also, scientists from China grew a nose on the patient's forehead, and British researchers also created a nose, but with the help of a hand.
In general, experts are confident that very soon it will be possible to grow at least a full human face in laboratory conditions.