Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have developed a fast, efficient way to turn cells extracted from routine liposuction into liver cells.
The scientists performed their experiments in mice, but the adipose stem cells they used came from human liposuction aspirates and became human, liver-like cells that flourished inside the mice's bodies.
It only takes 9 days to complete the conversion from adipose to liver tissue, which could be fast enough to create a replacement organ for those with acute liver failure.
Acute liver failure from acetaminophen alone takes about 500 lives annually and accounts for close to 60,000 emergency-room visits and more than 25,000 hospitalizations annually. Other environmental toxins, including poisonous mushrooms, contribute still more cases.
Read more:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131021162649.htm
Image via Wikimedia Commons.
Self induced or accidentally too much acetaminophen damages the liver. Acetaminophen toxicity has replaced viral hepatitis as the most common cause of acute hepatic failure and is
ReplyDeletethe second most common cause of liver failure, at least in US.
The deaths are all self-induced, unless the victims were force-fed Tylenol. If you're asking whether they were suicides, I don't have the numbers but I'd suspect an overdose wouldn't be fatal because of liver damage. And there are very few over-the-counter medicines that would be less effective as lethal poisons.
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