A team of scientists are developing yarn grown from human skin to be used to stitch up surgical patients and repair organs.
The researchers claim that the yarn made from human skin cells, dubbed "human textile," can be used for knitting, sewing and even crochet. and can help in a number of medical procedures.
The researchers from the University of Bordeaux in France, said that the string-like substance would have the ability to "truly integrate into the host's body."
They said: "This novel strategy holds the promise of a next generation of medical textiles that will be mechanically strong without any foreign scaffolding."
In the study, published in the journal Acta Biomaterialia, the team pointed out that unlike synthetic material currently used in most surgeries, the futuristic yarn will not have the risk of causing a detrimental reaction from patients' bodies.
The researchers wrote: "These human textiles offer a unique level of biocompatibility and represent a new generation of completely biological tissue-engineered products. Most permanent synthetic biomaterials are recognized as foreign by the innate immune system, which leads to the well-described 'foreign body reaction' upon implantation."
The team produced images of the yarn, which demonstrated a number of ways in which it can be stitched and manipulated.
They said: "This material can be used as a simple suture to close a wound or can be assembled into fully biological, human."
Human textile and Bio-glue
In 2019, a group of scientists developed a so-called "bio-glue", an experimental adhesive gel that is activated by a flash of light and can be used rapidly glue a wound together.
In the study, the researchers from Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou, China, used the bio-glue to stop high pressure bleeding in the hearts of pigs.
In early experiments, they demonstrated how the substance could seal wounds to pig livers and later, showed how the bio-glue sealed wounds and punctures of hearts without stitches.
