Candy Coating Inspires Lab-Grown Blood Vessels

sciencehabit writes "Scientists have developed a water-soluble carbohydrate glass based on a decoration used on cakes and lollipops. The material can be cast into a variety of shapes, is completely nontoxic, and, when it has done its job, will dissolve naturally in the moist environment of lab-grown tissue, leaving behind spaces that can carry blood to cells. The advance solves one of the major problems of growing new organs in the laboratory."

Comments

Video of 3D Sugar Printing for this project

[jmil]

Here's an official video overview from University of Pennsylvania: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VHFlwJQIkE

Re:A blood vessel isn't just empty space though

[Ungrounded Lightning]

A blood vessel isn't just empty space though. It has walls that expand and contract in response to various conditions. I assume normal vessels also resist intrusion.

As I read it this process does one of the following:
  - reserves the space for the blood vessels to grow into a bit later (and perhaps marks it with growth factors to encourage vascularization along the paths.)
  - provides a scaffold around which the blood vessels form, then dissolves away to leave the resulting vessels open.