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Topic: Sweet! Cotton candy may help labs grow tissue
Posted by charlee (34) 12 Feb 2009
Cotton candy has delighted children for a century. Now it may have found a new role: helping scientists grow replacement tissues for people. The flossy stuff may be just right for creating networks of blood vessels within laboratory-grown bone, skin, muscle or fat for breast reconstruction, researchers suggest.
First, you pour a thick liquid chemical over a wad of cotton candy. Let the liquid solidify into a chunk, and put that in warm water to dissolve the candy. That leaves tiny channels where the strands of candy used to be. So you have a chunk of material with a network of fine channels within.

Next, line these channels with cells to create artificial blood vessels. And seed the solid chunk with immature cells of whatever tissue you're trying to make. The block is biodegradable, and as it disappears, it will gradually be replaced by growing tissue. In the end, you get a piece of tissue permeated with tiny blood vessels.

So far, the researchers have made these blocks of material and run rat blood through the channels within. While they may eventually switch to something other than cotton candy as the research proceeds, Bellan said he hopes to stick with the inexpensive stuff as long as possible.
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Posted by roopali (33) 12 Feb 2009
good...interesting.....i like it...!!!
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Posted by sanjeev (17) 13 Feb 2009
Cotton Candy - If you've ever been to a carnival, circus, amusement park, fair or any other type of large outdoor event with vendors selling a variety of trinkets, you've most likely had the chance to sample an odd yet delicious candy known as cotton candy also called candy floss or candy cotton. Your parents probably made sure you didn't eat too much cotton candy though, right? And then proceeded to tell you stories about how cotton candy will give you cavities so horrific your teeth would eventually fall out? Well, maybe not quite that horrible, though I did once overhear a mother telling her son that about cotton candy.


In truth, cotton candy isn't nearly so horrible as many make it sound. Sure, cotton candy is almost purely sugar, but there isn't enough in cotton candy to make your teeth instantly form cavities. Unless, of course, you eat cotton candy multiple times a day and several times a week. ....!!!!!!!!!
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Posted by tamanna (21) 19 Feb 2009
Informative....always i thot not to have that floss due to exceessive sugar...but came to know that it is minimal in that.....
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