Living with Your Liver
The liver is located on the right side of your body beneath the ribs.Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399 USA. All rights reserved.
Students learn the function of the liver and how biomedical engineers can use liver regeneration to help people. Students test the effects of toxic chemicals on a beef liver by adding hydrogen peroxide to various liver and salt solutions. They observe, record and graph their results.
Tissue and organ regeneration is one of the most cutting-edge engineering applications, and an area of significant engineering research. In labs across the world, mechanical and biomedical engineers are exploring and experimenting with how to "grow" artificial ligaments, organs, skin and spinal disks. Since human livers are able to regenerate, bioengineers can create new and functional organs using only a portion of another liver. In the future, instead of waiting for liver donations that match patients' blood types, hospitals may supply patients who have liver failure with whole liver organs ready for surgical replacement.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Explain how different salt concentrations affect the liver's ability to break down toxins.
- Explain that the liver is the only internal organ that can currently be regenerated by biomedical engineers.
- Explain why tissue regeneration by biomedical engineers is important to human health.