Scientists Are Growing Monkey Arms In A Lab

Statistics show that there are roughly 185,000 amputees in the United States every year, according to the Amputee Coalition. The problem, however, is that it's extremely difficult to replace lost limbs. For instance, though there have been many transplant surgeries in the country, patients must constantly receive immunization drugs to ward off infection. The human body is not accustomed to receiving foreign bodies or cells, and both mobility and overall compatibility can become huge issues.

Lead researcher Harald Ott of Massachusetts General Hospital's organ repair and regeneration lab director is now working to reconstruct a monkey arm in a laboratory. The process works through the creation of a scaffold in the foundation of a limb. In the lab, the monkey arm is stripped of its individual cells and then, the scaffold is infused with cells from the recipient that transform into a limb, according to CNN.

Ott has previously used the same technique to grow both lungs and a beating heart in June 2015. Currently, the researchers at the hospital are working to grow both blood and blood vessel cells for the new arm.

"The aim is ... the formation of a fully lined vascular system," Ott added, via the news organization.

While the researchers have had success in building the human vascular tissue, along with the lining on the monkey arm scaffolding, they still need the addition of the nerves, which are extremely complex.

"The challenge is their composite nature ... limbs contain muscles, bone, cartilage, blood vessels, tendons, ligaments and nerves -- each of which has to be rebuilt and require a specific supporting structure called the matrix," he says. "What's important is to eventually let that limb become functional again."

Related Articles

Old World Monkey Skull Reveals Primates Had Tiny But Complex Brains (VIDEO)

For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).