[Brakenshire]

I wonder how much this process reverses the age of the lungs, if you take the lungs of an 80 year old, wash them, reseed them and put them in a 20 year old, what’s the result?

[biofox]

I don't work in this area, but ECM scaffolds undergo significant change with age. Crosslinks and age-related remodelling degrade the mechanical properties of the scaffold and interfere with normal cell migration and differentiation.

You would want to start with a healthy organ before decellularising and reseeding.

[improbable22]

But perhaps not quite as critical as for current transplants? At least that's my uneducated guess... anyone know?

[thefounder]

If that would work I guess people would like to "refresh" their organs anyway from time to time to avoid failure.

[dmurray]

Yes, though I would expect the risk of complications from this procedure will outweigh the benefit for healthy patients for many years after it becomes a "routine" operation for those with lung disease.

[kls]

Weird thought what if a 20'something put cells in a bank and had organs generated from them later in life.