Scientists from Rice University, Houston, TX, used magnetic levitation to grow very realistic lung tissue, which could lead to faster and more effective toxicity tests for airborne chemicals.
The research is part of an international trend in biomedical engineering to create laboratory techniques for growing tissues virtually identical to those found in people’s bodies. In the new study, the researchers combined four types of cells to replicate tissue from the wall of the bronchiole deep inside the lung.
In vitro laboratory tests have customarily been conducted on 2D cell cultures grown in flat petri dishes. But, scientists are aware that cells in flat cultures sometimes behave differently than cells immersed in 3D tissue. So the researchers used magnetism to levitate and grow 3D cell cultures by using nontoxic magnetic nanoparticles inserted into the living cells. They then used magnets to lift and suspend the cells as they grow and divide.
They say the layered bronchiole tissues for this new study resembles native bronchiole tissue more closely than any other tissue yet created in the lab.
