The role of animals in medical laboratories is expanding in interesting ways. A recent Discovery News article states, “For the first time, scientists have used stem cells to grow an adult-size human ear on the back of a rat.”
The Japan-based researchers first reprogrammed those cells to become cartilage then placed them in a plastic frame resembling an ear. The system was placed under a live rat’s skin, and within two months, the artificial structure dissolved, leaving behind an ear-like form.
The hope is that this method could be used to grow ears for people who are missing them due to birth defects, accidents, or war. Clinical trials are planned to begin in around five years.
This isn’t the first time scientists have tried to develop human body parts; U.K. doctors previously cultured a man’s nose within the tissue of his own arm.
