Artificial jaw bone

Engineers have for the first time used skin cells to create artificial bones that mimic the ability of natural bone to blend into other tissues such as tendons or ligaments.

A microscopic image of a 10 mm collagen scaffold containing a uniform
distribution of skin cells (blue) seeded on top of a 3-D
polylysine gradient (green).

The artificial bones display a gradual change from bone to softer tissue rather than the sudden shift of previously developed artificial tissue, providing better integration with the body and allowing them to handle weight more successfully.

“One of the biggest challenges in regenerative medicine is to have a graded continuous interface, because anatomically that’s how the majority of tissues appear and there are studies that have strongly suggested that the graded interface provides better integration and load transfer,” said Andres Garcia, professor at George Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Garcia and former graduate student Jennifer Phillips, along with other researchers, were not only able to create artificial bone that melds into softer tissues, but were also able to implant the technology in vivo for several weeks.

Via The Times