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Cartilage(1), bones and the internal walls(2) of blood vessels(3) can be created by using common connective tissue(4) cells(5) from human skin. Researchers(6) in reconstructive plastic surgery(7) at Linköping University have successfully manipulated(8) these tissue cells to take on different shapes depending on the medium(9) they have been cultivated(10) in.

“This means that it will be much easier to produce autologous(11) tissue, which is tissue created from the patient’s own body”, says Gunnar Kratz, Professor of Experimental(12) Plastic Surgery(13) and team leader for the research group.

The results of the group’s research are now published in three simultaneous(14) scientific articles.

Bone, cartilage and blood vessels are important components in reconstructive surgery(15), where damaged tissue needs to be recreated(16). Minor fractures(17) can heal spontaneously(18) but for major bone damage and cartilage injuries(19) there is the need to transplant(20) tissue from other parts of the patient’s body.

Different strategies have been attempted to instead grow autologous tissue from stem cells(21), for example those present in bone marrow(22). These cells, however, can be difficult to harvest(23), cultivate and store. Compared to these cells connective tissue cells from human skin has great advantages. A small biopsy(24) is often enough to collect a sufficient amount of cells.

“They are the ‘weed’ cells of the body, very easy to collect and cultivate into the cell type required. They are also very suitable to use to create a personal cell bank(25)”, Gunnar Kratz says.

Together with his colleagues(26) he has developed a technique to grow bone-, cartilage- and endothelial(27)-like(28) cells from connective tissue cells.