THE TRANSHUMANIST SCRAPBOOK: REGENERATED RAT LIMB SUCCESSFULLY GROWN, GRAFTED, AND TESTED

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Joseph P. Farrell •http://gizadeathstar.com/2015/06/the-transhumanist-scrapbook-regenerated-rat-limb-successfully-grown-grafted-and-tested/

Here's another story for your transhumanism scrapbook (in this case, shared by Mr. M.N.); the U.K.'s Daily Mail is reporting in a very interesting article, that scientists have now successfully "reanimated" a dead rat limb, transplanted it onto a rat, which was then able to use the resuscitated limb in a limited way:
World's first BIOLIMB created: Dead arm 'brought back to life' in the lab could allow amputees to grow replacement limbs
Here's the crux of the story:

Hands, arms and even legs, can be transplanted, but the operations are complex and patients have to take powerful immunosuppressant drugs - which weaken the immune system to prevent the rejection of a transplant - for life.

In contrast, a lab-grown arm or leg should look and move more naturally.

And because it is made out of the person's own cells, no immunosuppression would be needed.

Dr Ott, who has previously made kidneys, livers, lungs and even beating hearts in the lab, began by taking a forearm from a dead rat.

He then washed it in detergent to stop its cells, leaving only a framework behind.

The frame was then placed in an incubator-type jar, injected with healthy blood vessel and muscle cells, and fed nutrients and oxygen.

In just two to three weeks, the blood vessels and muscles had rebuilt, this week's New Scientist reports.

When the limb was attached to a living rat, blood quickly flowed through it.

The creature was even able to flex its new paw.

The trouble here, as noted in the article, is that this technology still requires a "donor" limb which is apparently stripped to its bones, and the new limb "grown" around it:

A new limb would then be created using the framework of a donated limb and the patient's own cells.

We've covered other stories about the growing leaps and bounds in prosthetics in the latest medical, as well and robotic and mechanical science. Artificial retinas under development that could not only solve some problems of human blindness, but actually result in a kind of "bionic man" improvement of vision. Forget about new glasses. Just order up some new eyes (be sure to check the box for your preferred color of eyeball... designer pastels cost extra) with optional infrared, ultraviolet, night vision and zoom and wide angle lens capability.

Imagine now the integration of such bio-mechanical interfaces with the new regenerative and resuscitation techniques and technologies being developed: need new bones? They can be manufactured (or grown) from your own stored DNA samples: donors no longer needed. Just access your stored DNA and genetic database in the cloud, For a fee, of course, and hopefully they won't have "edited" it. And hopefully, they'll transplant a human limb, and not something else...