Researchers are implanting artificial vocal cords for the first time

Artificial tissue is transplanted into animals as a test
Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have for the first time succeeded in producing human vocal cords in the laboratory. This may help patients who have lost their vocal cords due to cancer surgery or other injuries. The researchers published their results in the renowned journal "Science Translational Medicine".
Voice formation by vibration
The so-called "vocal cords" are two small elastic bands that lie in the middle area of ​​the larynx and are covered by a mucous membrane. The function of the vocal cords is vocalization, because vibrations that arise during exhalation make us able to speak certain sounds or sounds. If the tapes are loose and relaxed, a deep tone is created, while tension can produce high pitched tones.

For the first time implanted artificial vocal cords. Image: Dan Race - fotolia

Voice disorders have so far only been healed to a limited degree
If the vocal cords are e.g. healed by the treatment of a throat cancer, the healing options are usually severely limited. So far, the injury-related voice disorders in some cases, e.g. can be improved by injecting collagen, but in many patients such interventions have been ineffective. Now, however, there could be a new way to help those affected. Because scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have made for the first time artificial vocal cords in the laboratory.

The team around Dr. Nathan Welham used donated cells from one deceased and four patients who had their larynx removed without cancer, according to the university. The cells were cultured and then applied to a 3D collagen scaffold similar to the system commonly used to make artificial skin in the laboratory. After only two weeks, the cells had grown together and formed a tissue that was close to the "true" vocal cord mucosa.

Tests on canine carcasses and live mice
The researchers then tested the artificial vocal cords on the larynx of deceased dogs and found that they were able to make sounds. In the next step, the vocal cords were transplanted into live mice to which the human immune system had previously been transferred ("humanized mice"). The researchers realized that the tissue was growing and was not repelled - an indication that the artificial vocal cords for the immune system were not recognizable as foreign bodies.

"Our vocal cords are made of special fabrics that are flexible enough to vibrate yet strong enough to beat hundreds of times a second. It's an exquisite system and a hard thing to replicate, "Dr. Nathan Welham. Clinical applications would still take researchers years to complete, however, because studies would first have to be done to further investigate safety and long-term function. (No)