A device developed at The Ohio State University can heal damaged organs by causing existing skin cells to develop into vascular cells.
The device has been undergoing testing on mice and pigs, and has been effective 98 percent of the time, an Ohio State news release said. Mice with badly injured legs that lacked blood flow were healed within three weeks and blood flow was restored.
The process works simply by touching the skin near the injury with a nanochip to introduce the desired DNA. A small, barely detectable electric pulse stimulates the existing cells. The procedure only takes a second and is not invasive.
In addition, the device is small and treatment can be delivered anywhere, including on a battlefield, so that injured soldiers could be treated in the field, USA Today noted.
It is the first time scientists have reprogrammed cells within a live body. There were no side effects reported with the treatment, which also was used to grow brain cells in mice who suffered strokes.
Chandan Sen, the director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell-Based Therapies and co-leader of the study, said he expects the technology will be tested on humans within the next year and that he’s currently in talks with Walter Reed National Medical Center about human trials, USA Today reported. The device is awaiting FDA approval.
“We have shown that the skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining,” Sen said, Science Daily reported.
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