Some of the top minds at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University have developed a working method of constructing small blood vessels using something akin to a modified inkjet printer.

The prototype vessel was made possible by a specially designed inkjet printer made at the Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology. It uses a mixture of living cells, a special type of medical gel and a solution of calcium chloride. The mixture of cells and gel is injected into the calcium chloride solution in a spiral pattern. The calcium chloride reacts with the gel, causing it to turn solid and keeping the cells in their desired shape. They have thus far printed small blood vessels of 1mm in diameter and 30mm long. The interior wall of the blood vessel is that of endothelial cells while the outer wall is comprised of muscle cells, just like an ordinary vessel.

Unfortunately, the current prototype is weak and would be incapable of surviving the pulsing pressure of flowing blood within the human body. Fortunately though, the gel suspension used is completely non-toxic and has been used in medical science for years. Given time it may be possible for doctors to simply print out new blood vessels for patients.

However, if the procedure becomes viable, it may be possible (decades and or centuries from now) for medical science to print out more complex organs such as hearts, skin, bones and so forth.