Friday 21 March 2014

            Many innovations have challenged the role of ethics in research and in practice, but bioprinting might be the greatest innovation to take on this challenge in the history of science. Serving as a scientific means of changing the health industry, bioprinting is the process of generating new tissues and organs from preexisting cells. The term “bioprinting” originates in the method that is undertaken to perform this process – the technology that generates these new tissues and organs is similar to a printer that uses ink to create text and designs on paper. With the capabilities of bioprinting finally being realized, ethical issues abound as the potential uses of this technology are also becoming evident.

How It Works
            The mechanisms of bioprinting function just like that of an inkjet printer. As inkjet printers use cartridges filled with ink that will be released onto paper, bioprinters use cartridges that dispense living cells. The part of the bioprinter that controls this process is the bioprint head, which moves left, right, forward, backward, up, and down within the allowed area to designate cells into the predetermined shape of the desired tissue or organ. The bioprint head releases cells and a gel to preserve the cells during the bioprinting process, and layer by layer the tissue or organ is created. After the cells have been released into the vat, the cells will begin to bind to each other to form the tissue or organ. This entire process is based on the existence of a digital 3D image of the tissue or organ that is to be formed.

Possible Beneficial Uses
            Many beneficial uses for bioprinting have been recognized and may hold significance in the future of medicine. Among the most obvious due to the ability of bioprinting to create organs is its use to do so for the purpose of organ transplants, which would eliminate the need for organ donors and the need for waiting lists for transplants. The second beneficial use for bioprinting is to generate tissues for use in plastic surgery; this may be primarily for plastic surgery that is needed for functional and cosmetic reasons following severe bodily injury or for vanity. For example, body parts have already been created through bioprinting such as prosthetics (A Brief History, n.d.). Third, bioprinting can benefit medicine by allowing for extensive research through the generation of tissues and organs from human cells. By producing tissues and organs in this way, an adequate amount can be dedicated to finding treatments and cures to diseases and other health problems, and the effectiveness of medications can be tested for effectiveness and health maintenance. Finally, the additional supply of tissues and organs from bioprinting may improve the accuracy of medical procedures by providing opportunities for practicing such procedures, and with further innovation bioprinting may even allow for the creation of tissues directly into the body or organs to be repaired within the body.

Ethical Dilemmas
            Although bioprinting holds potential for various innovations in medical care and treatment, it does present some ethical issues because of how it may be used in future practice. First, the appropriateness of bioprinting to be used for cosmetic purposes may eventually allow the generation of new faces that people can have created upon themselves after the removal of their own facial cells (Bioprinting, n.d.). Second, youth may be able to use images of their own faces for facial reconstruction in the years of the future to provide lifelong youth. Another possibility is that bioprinting may provide prolonged life – if organs and other body parts are repaired or replaced throughout life, this might add years to the average lifespan and even contribute to the idea of immortality.

Conclusion
            Bioprinting emerged out of the innovation of 3D printing in 1984 that enabled the creation of 3D objects from digital data and appropriate materials (A Brief History, n.d.). The most important benefit of bioprinting is the ability for improving lives – whether through prosthetics or organ transplants, bioprinting may extend lives and improve the quality of life. It is a complex process that requires the use of cells from the specific individual for which the new tissues or organs will be created, because this will eliminate the possibility of rejection by the body. Bioprinting holds significant potential for the future of medicine, but the ethical challenges may exist for some time until the possibilities are genuinely denied that bioprinting may be used for inappropriate measures as those already described.





References
“A brief history of 3D printing.” (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2014, from <http://individual.troweprice.com/staticFiles/Retail/Shared/PDFs/3D_Printing_Infographic_FINAL.pdf>.

“Bioprinting.” (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2014, from <http://explainingthefuture.com/bioprinting.html>.

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