http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2017/05/16/3d-printed-ovaries-mice/#.WSS9o2jyuUk
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Mice with artificial, 3-D printed ovaries have successfully given birth to healthy offspring.
It's another success for members of the same Northwestern University team that in March reproduced an entire menstrual cycle using organs-on-a-chip. This time, they've created ovaries from a type of gelatin hydrogel and infused them with immature egg cells before implanting them in female mice. The ovaries behaved like the natural ones, picking out an egg cell to mature and pass along, allowing the mice to bear healthy offspring. The procedure marks another step toward printing replacements for missing or damaged organs.
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The results are nevertheless encouraging, both because they hint at the development of other 3-D printed organs and because they represent another encouraging development for women whose ovaries have been damaged or removed. Some cancer treatments can render women infertile, and Woodruff's lab has been searching for a way to give these women another shot at pregnancy. They've previously experimented with removing and freezing ovaries, and this concept could represent another way to solve the problem.
Actually producing other organs using a similar technique may be even further off, though. Each organ represents its own challenge, and some contain more types of tissue working in concert than ovaries do. Still, as 3-D printing technology becomes more sophisticated and research progresses, it could one day be an option.