Testing Function with Organ Bath Experiments

Tissue that is engineered in the lab not only has to look like the tissue it will replace -- it has to function like it as well. The organ bath is an experimental set-up that is used to test laboratory-engineered tissue. With organ bath experiments, scientists study how the tissue responds to chemical agents and/or electrical impulses to determine if the responses are normal.

The tissue is suspended in a temperature-controlled chamber and its contractile function is recorded on a computer. By comparing the contraction and relaxation responses of engineered tissue to normal tissue, we can assess the success of our experiments.