Stem Cells Self-Assemble into Functioning, Miniature Livers
Stem cell-derived liver cells, cultured in a Petri dish alongside blood and connective tissue, spontaneously assembled into a human liver bud, closely resembling a five to six week old human liver. This advance, reported in Nature, represents the first time a vascularized, three-dimensional organ has been produced from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Transplanted into mice, the buds broke down drugs that human, not mouse, livers can process.