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An artificial organ is a human made organ device or tissue that is implanted or integrated into a human — interfacing with living tissue — to replace a natural
organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...
, to duplicate or augment a specific function or functions so the patient may return to a normal life as soon as possible. The replaced function does not have to be related to
life support Life support comprises the treatments and techniques performed in an emergency in order to support life after the failure of one or more vital organs. Healthcare providers and emergency medical technicians are generally certified to perform basic ...
, but it often is. For example, replacement bones and joints, such as those found in
hip replacement Hip replacement is a surgical procedure in which the hip joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant, that is, a hip prosthesis. Hip replacement surgery can be performed as a total replacement or a hemi (half) replacement. Such joint replacement o ...
s, could also be considered artificial organs. Implied by definition, is that the device must not be continuously tethered to a stationary power supply or other stationary resources such as filters or chemical processing units. (Periodic rapid recharging of batteries, refilling of chemicals, and/or cleaning/replacing of filters would exclude a device from being called an artificial organ.) Thus, a dialysis machine, while a very successful and critically important life support device that almost completely replaces the duties of a
kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blo ...
, is not an artificial organ.


Purpose

Constructing and installing artificial organs, an extremely research-intensive and expensive process initially, may entail many years of ongoing maintenance services not needed by a natural organ: * providing life support to prevent imminent death while awaiting a transplant (e.g.
artificial heart An artificial heart is a device that replaces the heart. Artificial hearts are typically used to bridge the time to heart transplantation, or to permanently replace the heart in the case that a heart transplant (from a deceased human or, exper ...
); * dramatically improving the patient's ability for self care (e.g.
artificial limb In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...
); * improving the patient's ability to interact socially (e.g.
cochlear implant A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted neuroprosthesis that provides a person who has moderate-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss with sound perception. With the help of therapy, cochlear implants may allow for improved speech unde ...
); or * improving a patient's quality of life through cosmetic restoration after
cancer surgery Surgical oncology is the branch of surgery applied to oncology; it focuses on the surgical management of tumors, especially cancerous tumors. As one of several modalities in the management of cancer, the specialty of surgical oncology has evolve ...
or an accident. The use of any artificial organ by humans is almost always preceded by extensive experiments with animals. Initial testing in humans is frequently limited to those either already facing death or who have exhausted every other treatment possibility.


Examples


Artificial limbs

Artificial arms and legs, or
prosthetics In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...
, are intended to restore a degree of normal function to amputees. Mechanical devices that allow amputees to walk again or continue to use two hands have probably been in use since ancient times, the most notable one being the simple peg leg. Since then, the development of artificial limbs has progressed rapidly. New plastics and other materials, such as
carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...
have allowed artificial limbs to become stronger and lighter, limiting the amount of extra energy necessary to operate the limb. Additional materials have allowed artificial limbs to look much more realistic. Prostheses can roughly be categorized as upper- and lower-extremity and can take many shapes and sizes. New advances in artificial limbs include additional levels of integration with the human body. Electrodes can be placed into nervous tissue, and the body can be trained to control the prosthesis. This technology has been used in both animals and humans. The prosthetic can be controlled by the brain using a direct implant or implant into various muscles.


Bladder

The two main methods for replacing bladder function involve either redirecting urine flow or replacing the bladder ''in situ''. Standard methods for replacing the bladder involve fashioning a bladder-like pouch from intestinal tissue. As of 2017 methods to grow bladders using
stem cells In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of ...
had been attempted in
clinical research Clinical research is a branch of healthcare science that determines the safety and effectiveness ( efficacy) of medications, devices, diagnostic products and treatment regimens intended for human use. These may be used for prevention, treat ...
but this procedure was not part of medicine.


Brain

Neural prostheses are a series of devices that can substitute a motor, sensory or cognitive modality that might have been damaged as a result of an injury or a disease.
Neurostimulator Neurostimulation is the purposeful modulation of the nervous system's activity using invasive (e.g. microelectrodes) or non-invasive means (e.g. transcranial magnetic stimulation or transcranial electric stimulation, tES, such as tDCS or trans ...
s, including deep brain stimulators, send electrical impulses to the brain in order to treat neurological and
movement disorder Movement disorder refers to any clinical syndrome with either an excess of movement or a paucity of voluntary and involuntary movements, unrelated to weakness or spasticity. Movement disorders are synonymous with basal ganglia or extrapyramidal ...
s, including
Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms beco ...
,
epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrica ...
, treatment resistant depression, and other conditions such as
urinary incontinence Urinary incontinence (UI), also known as involuntary urination, is any uncontrolled leakage of urine. It is a common and distressing problem, which may have a large impact on quality of life. It has been identified as an important issue in geri ...
. Rather than replacing existing
neural network A neural network is a network or circuit of biological neurons, or, in a modern sense, an artificial neural network, composed of artificial neurons or nodes. Thus, a neural network is either a biological neural network, made up of biological ...
s to restore function, these devices often serve by disrupting the output of existing malfunctioning nerve centers to eliminate symptoms. Scientists in 2013 created a mini brain that developed key neurological components until the early gestational stages of fetal maturation.


Corpora cavernosa

To treat
erectile dysfunction Erectile dysfunction (ED), also called impotence, is the type of sexual dysfunction in which the penis fails to become or stay erect during sexual activity. It is the most common sexual problem in men.Cunningham GR, Rosen RC. Overview of ma ...
, both corpora cavernosa can be irreversibly surgically replaced with manually inflatable
penile implant A penile implant is an implanted device intended for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, Peyronie's disease, ischemic priapism, deformity and any traumatic injury of the penis, and for phalloplasty or metoidioplasty, including in gender-aff ...
s. This is a drastic therapeutic surgery meant only for men who have complete
impotence Erectile dysfunction (ED), also called impotence, is the type of sexual dysfunction in which the penis fails to become or stay erect during sexual activity. It is the most common sexual problem in men.Cunningham GR, Rosen RC. Overview of mal ...
who have resisted all other treatment approaches. An implanted pump in the (groin) or (scrotum) can be manipulated by hand to fill these artificial cylinders, normally sized to be direct replacements for the natural corpora cavernosa, from an implanted reservoir in order to achieve an erection.


Ear

In cases when a person is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing in both ears, a cochlear implant may be surgically implanted. Cochlear implants bypass most of the peripheral auditory system to provide a sense of sound via a microphone and some electronics that reside outside the skin, generally behind the ear. The external components transmit a signal to an array of electrodes placed in the
cochlea The cochlea is the part of the inner ear involved in hearing. It is a spiral-shaped cavity in the bony labyrinth, in humans making 2.75 turns around its axis, the modiolus. A core component of the cochlea is the Organ of Corti, the sensory o ...
, which in turn stimulates the
cochlear nerve The cochlear nerve (also auditory nerve or acoustic nerve) is one of two parts of the vestibulocochlear nerve, a cranial nerve present in amniotes, the other part being the vestibular nerve. The cochlear nerve carries auditory sensory information ...
. In the case of an outer ear trauma, a
craniofacial prosthesis Craniofacial prostheses are prostheses made by individuals trained in anaplastology or Prosthodontics, maxillofacial prosthodontics who medically help rehabilitate those with facial defects caused by disease (mostly progressed forms of skin canc ...
may be necessary. Thomas Cervantes and his colleagues, who are from Massachusetts General Hospital, built an artificial ear from sheep cartilage by a 3D printer. With a lot of calculations and models, they managed to build an ear shaped like a typical human one. Modeled by a plastic surgeon, they had to adjust several times so the artificial ear can have curves and lines just like a human ear. The researchers said "The technology is now under development for clinical trials, and thus we have scaled up and redesigned the prominent features of the scaffold to match the size of an adult human ear and to preserve the aesthetic appearance after implantation." Their artificial ears have not been announced as successful, but they are still currently developing the project. Each year, thousands of children were born with a congenital deformity called microtia, where the external ear does not fully develop. This could be a major step forward in medical and surgical microtia treatment.


Eye

The most successful function-replacing artificial eye so far is actually an external miniature
digital camera A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile devices ...
with a remote unidirectional
electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...
interface implanted on the
retina The retina (from la, rete "net") is the innermost, light-sensitive layer of tissue of the eye of most vertebrates and some molluscs. The optics of the eye create a focused two-dimensional image of the visual world on the retina, which the ...
,
optic nerve In neuroanatomy, the optic nerve, also known as the second cranial nerve, cranial nerve II, or simply CN II, is a paired cranial nerve that transmits visual information from the retina to the brain. In humans, the optic nerve is derived fro ...
, or other related locations inside the
brain A brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as Visual perception, vision. I ...
. The present state of the art yields only partial functionality, such as recognizing levels of brightness, swatches of color, and/or basic geometric shapes, proving the concept's potential. Various researchers have demonstrated that the retina performs strategic
image An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensio ...
preprocessing for the brain. The problem of creating a completely functional artificial electronic eye is even more complex. Advances towards tackling the complexity of the artificial connection to the retina, optic nerve, or related brain areas, combined with ongoing advances in
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
, are expected to dramatically improve the performance of this technology.


Heart

Cardiovascular The blood circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the entire body of a human or other vertebrate. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, tha ...
-related artificial organs are implanted in cases where the heart, its valves, or another part of the circulatory system is in disorder. The
artificial heart An artificial heart is a device that replaces the heart. Artificial hearts are typically used to bridge the time to heart transplantation, or to permanently replace the heart in the case that a heart transplant (from a deceased human or, exper ...
is typically used to bridge the time to
heart transplantation A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure or severe coronary artery disease when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common procedu ...
, or to permanently replace the heart in case heart transplantation is impossible.
Artificial pacemaker An artificial cardiac pacemaker (or artificial pacemaker, so as not to be confused with the natural cardiac pacemaker) or pacemaker is a medical device that generates electrical impulses delivered by electrodes to the chambers of the heart eit ...
s represent another cardiovascular device that can be implanted to either intermittently augment (defibrillator mode), continuously augment, or completely bypass the natural living
cardiac pacemaker 350px, Image showing the cardiac pacemaker or SA node, the primary pacemaker within the electrical_conduction_system_of_the_heart">SA_node,_the_primary_pacemaker_within_the_electrical_conduction_system_of_the_heart. The_muscle_contraction.htm ...
as needed.
Ventricular assist device A ventricular assist device (VAD) is an electromechanical device for assisting cardiac circulation, which is used either to partially or to completely replace the function of a failing heart. The function of a VAD differs from that of an artific ...
s are another alternative, acting as mechanical circulatory devices that partially or completely replace the function of a failing heart, without the removal of the heart itself. Besides these, lab-grown hearts and 3D bioprinted hearts are also being researched. Currently, scientists are limited in their ability to grow and print hearts due to difficulties in getting blood vessels and lab-made tissues to function cohesively.


Kidney

It has been reported that scientists at the
University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It ...
, are developing an implantable artificial kidney. As of 2018, these scientists have made significant advancements with the technology but are still identifying methods to prevent the blood clotting associated with their machine. The list of the patients who are waiting on kidneys is long, and kidneys are rare compared to other organs. Many people couldn't wait for their surgeries. Scientists feel the urge of developing an artificial kidney, they have been working hard in order to make a kidney that can function perfectly, and hopefully can replace human kidneys. Thanks to the NIBIB Quantum grantees, artificial kidney development advanced, they computed a simulation of how blood flow, they combined their work with a rare expertise in artificial kidney. "As developers of this technology know all too well, it is especially frustrating to deal with blood clots, which can both plug up the device, making it useless, and cause dangers to other parts of the body where blood flow would be compromised," said Rosemarie Hunziker, Director of the NIBIB program in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. An artificial kidney would allow blood filtrate continuously, that would help reduce kidney disease illness and increase the quality of life of patients.


Liver

HepaLife is developing a bioartificial
liver The liver is a major organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for digestion and growth. In humans, it i ...
device intended for the treatment of liver failure using
stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of ...
s. The artificial liver is designed to serve as a supportive device, either allowing the liver to regenerate upon failure, or to bridge the patient's liver functions until transplant is available. It is only made possible by the fact that it uses real liver cells (hepatocytes), and even then, it is not a permanent substitute. Researchers from Japan found that a mixture of human liver precursor cells (differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem cells PSCs and two other cell types can spontaneously form three-dimensional structures dubbed "liver buds."


Lungs

With some almost fully functional, artificial lungs promise to be a great success in the near future. An Ann Arbor company MC3 is currently working on this type of medical device.
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), also known as extracorporeal life support (ECLS), is an extracorporeal technique of providing prolonged cardiac and respiratory support to persons whose heart and lungs are unable to provide an adequa ...
(ECMO) can be used to take significant load off of the native lung tissue and heart. In ECMO, one or more catheters are placed into the patient and a pump is used to flow blood over hollow membrane fibers, which exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide with the blood. Similar to ECMO, Extracorporeal Removal (ECCO2R) has a similar set-up, but mainly benefits the patient through carbon dioxide removal, rather than oxygenation, with the goal of allowing the lungs to relax and heal.


Ovaries

The ground work for the development of the artificial ovary was laid in the early 1990s. Reproductive age patients who develop cancer often receive chemotherapy or radiation therapy, which damages oocytes and leads to early menopause. An artificial human ovary has been developed at Brown University with self-assembled microtissues created using novel 3-D petri dish technology. In a study funded and conducted by the NIH in 2017, scientists were successful in printing 3-D ovaries and implanting them in sterile mice. In the future, scientists hope to replicate this in larger animals as well as humans. The artificial ovary will be used for the purpose of in vitro maturation of immature oocytes and the development of a system to study the effect of environmental toxins on folliculogenesis.


Pancreas

An artificial pancreas is used to substitute
endocrine The endocrine system is a messenger system comprising feedback loops of the hormones released by internal glands of an organism directly into the circulatory system, regulating distant target organs. In vertebrates, the hypothalamus is the neur ...
functionality of a healthy
pancreas The pancreas is an organ of the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. In humans, it is located in the abdomen behind the stomach and functions as a gland. The pancreas is a mixed or heterocrine gland, i.e. it has both an ...
for diabetic and other patients who require it. It can be used to improve insulin replacement therapy until glycemic control is practically normal as evident by the avoidance of the complications of hyperglycemia, and it can also ease the burden of therapy for the insulin-dependent. Approaches include using an
insulin pump An insulin pump is a medical device used for the administration of insulin in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, also known as continuous subcutaneous insulin therapy. The device configuration may vary depending on design. A traditional pump ...
under
closed loop control Control theory is a field of mathematics that deals with the control of dynamical systems in engineered processes and machines. The objective is to develop a model or algorithm governing the application of system inputs to drive the system to a ...
, developing a bio-artificial pancreas consisting of a biocompatible sheet of encapsulated
beta cells Beta cells (β-cells) are a type of cell found in pancreatic islets that synthesize and secrete insulin and amylin. Beta cells make up 50–70% of the cells in human islets. In patients with Type 1 diabetes, beta-cell mass and function are dim ...
, or using
gene therapy Gene therapy is a Medicine, medical field which focuses on the genetic modification of cells to produce a therapeutic effect or the treatment of disease by repairing or reconstructing defective genetic material. The first attempt at modifying ...
.


Red blood cells

Artificial red blood cells (RBC) have already been in projects for about 60 years, but they started getting interest when the HIV-contaminated-donor blood crisis. Artificial RBCs will be dependent 100% on nanotechnology. A successful artificial RBC should be able to totally replace human RBC, which means it can carry on all the functions that a human RBC does. The first artificial RBC, made by Chang and Poznanski in 1968, was made to transport Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide, also fulfilled antioxidant functions. Scientists are working on a new kind of artificial RBC, which is one-fiftieth the size of a human RBC. They are made from purified human hemoglobin proteins that have been coated with a synthetic polymer. Thanks to the special materials of the artificial RBC, they can capture oxygen when blood pH is high, and release oxygen when blood pH is low. The polymer coating also keeps the hemoglobin from reacting with nitric oxide in the bloodstream, thus preventing dangerous constriction of the blood vessels. Allan Doctor, MD, stated that the artificial RBC can be used by anyone, with any blood type because the coating is immune silent.


Testes

Men whom have sustained testicular abnormalities through birth defects or injury have been able to replace the damaged testicle with a testicular prosthesis. Although the prosthetic does not restore biological reproductive function, the device has been shown to improve mental health for these patients.


Thymus

An implantable machine that performs the function of a thymus does not exist. However, researchers have been able to grow a thymus from reprogrammed fibroblasts. They expressed hope that the approach could one day replace or supplement neonatal thymus transplantation. As of 2017, researchers at UCLA developed an artificial thymus that, although not yet implantable, is capable of performing all functions of a true thymus. The artificial thymus would play an important role in the immune system, it would use blood stem cells to produce more T cells, which would help the body fight infections, it would also grant the body the ability to eliminate cancer cells. Since when people become old, their thymus don't work well, an artificial thymus would be a good choice to replace an old, not-functioning-well thymus. The idea of using T cells to fight against infections has been around for a time, but until recently, the idea of using a T cell source, an artificial thymus is proposed. "We know that the key to creating a consistent and safe supply of cancer-fighting T cells would be to control the process in a way that deactivates all T cell receptors in the transplanted cells, except for the cancer-fighting receptors," said Dr. Gay Crooks of UCLA. The scientist also found that the T cells produced by the artificial thymus carried a diverse range of T cell receptors and worked similarly to the T cells produced by a normal thymus. Since they can work like human thymus, artificial thymus can supply a consistent amount of T cells to the body for the patients who are in need of treatments.


Trachea

The field of artificial tracheas went through a period of high interest and excitement with the work of
Paolo Macchiarini Paolo Macchiarini (born 22 August 1958) is a Swiss-born Italian thoracic surgeon and former regenerative medicine researcher who became known for research fraud and manipulative behavior. He has been convicted of research-related crimes in Ita ...
at the
Karolinska Institute The Karolinska Institute (KI; sv, Karolinska Institutet; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden. The Karolinska Institute is consist ...
and elsewhere from 2008 to around 2014, with front-page coverage in newspapers and on television. Concerns were raised about his work in 2014 and by 2016 he had been fired and high level management at Karolinska had been dismissed, including people involved in the
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
. As of 2017 engineering a trachea—a hollow tube lined with cells—had proved more challenging than originally thought; challenges include the difficult clinical situation of people who present as clinical candidates, who generally have been through multiple procedures already; creating an implant that can become fully developed and integrate with host while withstanding respiratory forces, as well as the rotational and longitudinal movement the trachea undergoes.


Enhancement

It is also possible to construct and install an artificial organ to give its possessor abilities that are not naturally occurring. Research is proceeding in areas of
vision Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...
,
memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remember ...
, and
information processing Information processing is the change (processing) of information in any manner detectable by an observer. As such, it is a process that ''describes'' everything that happens (changes) in the universe, from the falling of a rock (a change in posi ...
. Some current
research Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...
focuses on restoring
short-term memory Short-term memory (or "primary" or "active memory") is the capacity for holding a small amount of information in an active, readily available state for a short interval. For example, short-term memory holds a phone number that has just been recit ...
in accident victims and
long-term memory Long-term memory (LTM) is the stage of the Atkinson–Shiffrin memory model in which informative knowledge is held indefinitely. It is defined in contrast to short-term and working memory, which persist for only about 18 to 30 seconds. Long-t ...
in
dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
patients. One area of success was achieved when
Kevin Warwick Kevin Warwick (born 9 February 1954) is an English engineer and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Coventry University. He is known for his studies on direct interfaces between computer systems and the human nervous system, and has also don ...
carried out a series of experiments extending his
nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes ...
over the internet to control a robotic hand and the first direct electronic communication between the nervous systems of two humans. This might also include the existing practice of implanting subcutaneous chips for identification and location purposes (ex.
RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...
tags).


Microchips

Organ chips are devices containing hollow microvessels filled with cells simulating tissue and/or organs as a microfluidic system that can provide key chemical and electrical signal information. This is distinct from an alternative use of the term
microchip An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...
, which refers to small, electronic chips that are commonly used as an identifier and can also contain a transponder. This information can create various applications such as creating "human
in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called " test-tube experiments", these studies in biology a ...
models" for both healthy and diseased organs, drug advancements in
toxicity Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subs ...
screening as well as replacing animal testing. Using 3D cell culture techniques enables scientists to recreate the complex extracellular matrix, ECM, found in
in vivo Studies that are ''in vivo'' (Latin for "within the living"; often not italicized in English) are those in which the effects of various biological entities are tested on whole, living organisms or cells, usually animals, including humans, and p ...
to mimic human response to drugs and human diseases. Organs on chips are used to reduce the failure rate in new drug development; microengineering these allows for a microenvironment to be modeled as an organ.


See also

*
Artificial bone Artificial bone refers to bone-like material created in a laboratory that can be used in bone grafts, to replace human bone that was lost due to severe fractures, disease, etc. Bone fracture, which is a complete or partial break in the bone, is a ...
,
skin Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have different ...
,
uterus The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The ...
,
kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blo ...
* Biomechatronics *
Biomedical Engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...
* Decellularization *
Organ transplant Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be transpor ...
*
Organ culture Organ culture is a development from tissue culture methods of research, the organ culture is able to accurately model functions of an organ in various states and conditions by the use of the actual ''in vitro'' organ itself. Parts of an organ o ...
*
Tissue scaffold Tissue engineering is a biomedical engineering discipline that uses a combination of cells, engineering, materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physicochemical factors to restore, maintain, improve, or replace different types of biolo ...
*
Xenotransplant Xenotransplantation (''xenos-'' from the Greek meaning "foreign" or strange), or heterologous transplant, is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another. Such cells, tissues or organs are called xenograft ...
*
Organoid An organoid is a miniaturized and simplified version of an organ produced in vitro in three dimensions that shows realistic micro-anatomy. They are derived from one or a few cells from a tissue, embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent ste ...


References


Further reading

* * * *


External links

*''Artificial Organs''. .
American Society for Artificial Internal Organs (ASAIO)

"Elon Musk wants to hook your brain up directly to computers — starting next year"
at NBC News {{DEFAULTSORT:Artificial Organ Implants (medicine) Prosthetics Testicle