Today's Trivia
How did researchers create the all-white “ghost heart,” an organ made only of collagen and other parts of the extracellular matrix?
The first “ghost heart” showed up online around 2005. In photographs, it has every appearance of being a normal heart, except that it’s white.
This is because the cells have been washed away, leaving only collagen and other pallid human support matter—the stuff known collectively as the extracellular matrix. Wash is a technically apt verb, as the deed is done with detergent. Detergent, be it Dawn or Triton X-100, breaks down lipids and makes them easy to rinse away. In addition to supplying greasy residue on plates and pans, lipids make up the outer membranes of our cells. So if you infuse an organ with detergent—that is, you pump it in via the vascular system, much as a mortician distributes embalming fluid—it will handily dissolve these cells. (Read more on Nautilus)
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