The lung stayed in place only for an hour or two, as the scientists measured it exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide much like a regular lung, but also spotted some problems that will take more research to fix.
Still, the work is a step in the science fiction-sounding hunt for ways to regenerate damaged lungs, although lead researcher Dr. Laura Niklason cautions that it may be 20 or 25 years before a build-a-new-organ approach is ready for people.
The work was reported online Thursday in the journal Science. Nearly 400,000 people die of lung diseases each year in the US alone, according to the American Lung Association, and lung transplants are far too rare to offer much help.
But how to replicate these spongy organs? Niklason's team stripped an adult rat's lung down to its basic structural support system, its scaffolding, to see if it is possible to rebuild rather than starting completely from scratch.
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