Scientists in India 3D Print an Ear That Survives and Grows Inside the Body

IMTS

Share this Article

The quest to develop viable, transplantable 3D printed body parts continues, with major victories coming here and there as scientists successfully implant organs like thyroids and ovaries into mice. But while accomplishments like those make the headlines, there are far more times when scientists 3D print a body part in a lab only to have it turn out to be structurally unfit for transplantation or unable to survive as part of a living thing.

One area of focus has been 3D printing body parts made of cartilage, such as the ear. While 3D printed ears have been created using cartilage taken from elsewhere in a patient’s body, the goal is to 3D print an entirely new ear from stem cells, without the need to remove cartilage from anywhere else within the patient. A group of researchers from SRM University and SIMS Hospital in India are making their own progress toward 3D printed ears, an area where they have dedicated almost two years of work. Earlier this week, the scientists revealed an ear that they had 3D printed, and stated that the technology was used to 3D print pieces of cartilage that continued to survive and grow when implanted in rabbits.

“We still have a long way to go before we give this to a child with a birth defect, but we now have a definite path,” said SIMS Hospital Medical Director Dr. K Sridhar, a senior plastic surgeon. “We will be doing a large scale animal study to reconfirm our results before we start any human trial.”

[Image: The Times of India]

The researchers have not published or patented their process, but they did share details at a press conference about what they call an experiment in progress. As they described it, the cartilage cells, or chondrocytes, were taken from a piece of ear cartilage removed from a rabbit. The cells were then grown in a solution, composed of natural and synthetic substances to provide the cells with nutrition, for nearly three weeks. Once the cells expanded, they were seeded onto a biodegradable, biocompatible scaffold that was 3D printed in the form of an ear. When enough cells had grown – 107 per square centimeter to be exact – the cells were implanted in a rabbit.

“We kept it under the skin in the rabbit’s abdomen for three months. We also left an empty scaffold on the other side of the abdomen,” said Dr. Shantanu Patil, head of the translation medicine department at SRM University.

Last week, a veterinarian removed the scaffold from the rabbit, and it was evident that the cartilage cells had expanded, though it wasn’t perfect.

“A large part of the scaffold had disappeared,” said Dr. Patil. “If we had left it for a little longer we would have had better results. We are now using this sample to check on the tensile strength and other mechanical properties.”

According to pathologists from the laboratory, there was nothing largely abnormal about the samples taken from the scaffold. The researchers will now proceed further in their work; they have been given permission by the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) to expand the experiment to 18 more rabbits.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.

[Source/Image: The Times of India]

 

Share this Article


Recent News

Liquid Metal 3D Printing Sector Emerges with Fluent Metal’s $5.5M Investment

3DPOD Episode 191: Amy Alexander, 3D Printing at the Mayo Clinic



Categories

3D Design

3D Printed Art

3D Printed Food

3D Printed Guns


You May Also Like

3DPOD Episode 190: Generative Design for 3D Printing with Novineer CEO Ali Tamijani

Ali Tamijani, a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, has an extensive background in composites, tool pathing, and the development of functional 3D printed parts,...

Featured

3DPOD Episode 189: AMUG President Shannon VanDeren

Shannon VanDeren is a consultant in the 3D printing industry, focusing on implementation and integration for her company, Layered Manufacturing and Consulting. For nearly ten years, she has been involved...

3DPOD Episode 188: Clare Difazio of E3D – Growing the Industry, and Growing With the Industry

Clare DiFazio’s journey into the 3D printing industry was serendipitous, yet her involvement at critical moments has significantly influenced the sector. Her position as Head of Marketing & Product Strategy...

Featured

Printing Money Episode 15: 3D Printing Markets & Deals, with AM Research and AMPOWER

Printing Money returns with Episode 15! This month, NewCap Partners‘ Danny Piper is joined by Scott Dunham, Executive Vice President of Research at Additive Manufacturing (AM) Research, and Matthias Schmidt-Lehr,...