Human vocal cords are grown in a dish for the first time in breakthrough that could give hope to those who have lost their voice to cancer or other diseases
- Researchers from University of Wisconsin have grown the vocal chords They hope it will pave the way for patients to be given replacement chords One in 15 people suffer voice loss through cancer or other serious illness
Human vocal cords have been grown in a dish in a world first, giving hope to those who have lost their voice to cancer and other illnesses. One in 15 people suffer voice loss at some time and although many recover, some can suffer permanent problems that affect work or relationships. Nick Robinson, the BBC political editor turned Today show presenter, suffered damage to his vocal cords while being treated for lung cancer.
The team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison who grew vocal cords in a dish from human cells for the first time
Dr Nathan Wenham, the study's lead author, said: 'Voice is a pretty amazing thing, yet we don't give much thought to it until something goes wrong
Treatments for vocal cord damage include injections and voice coaching but none is perfect and the effect on everything from jobs to personal relationships can be devastating.
The US work paves the way for vocal cord transplants, in which patients could be given replacement tissue to give them their voice back.
The team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison grew vocal cords in a dish from human cells.
The cords – elastic bands of muscle that vibrate hundreds of times a second to produce sound – felt like the real thing.
They also made realistic-sounding noises, the journal Science Translational Medicine reports.
Much more work is needed before vocal cords suitable for human transplant can be grown in the lab but the researchers are optimistic.
Nick Robinson, the BBC political editor turned Today show presenter, suffered damage to his vocal cords while being treated for lung cancer
Dr Nathan Wenham, the study's lead author, said: 'Voice is a pretty amazing thing, yet we don't give much thought to it until something goes wrong.
'Our vocal cords are made up for special tissue that needs to be flexible enough to vibrate, yet strong enough to bang together hundreds of times per second.
'It's an exquisite system and a hard thing to replicate.
'We never imagined we would see the impressive level of function we did and that this engineered tissue would have such strong potential as a therapy.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3324660/Human-vocal-cords-grown-dish-time-breakthrough-hope-lost-voice-cancer-diseases.html#ixzz3ruAjX0YJ
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