Dhaka, Sept. 7 -- Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed an injectable "mini liver" system that could one day help restore some essential functions of a damaged liver without requiring a surgical transplant.

In a study involving mice, researchers found that injected liver cells remained alive and functional for at least eight weeks, continuing to produce many of the enzymes and proteins normally made by the liver.

The study, published in Cell Biomaterials, was led by MIT postdoctoral researcher Vardhman Kumar, with Sangeeta Bhatia, a professor at MIT and member of its Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, as senior author.

The liver performs around 500 essential functions in the body, inc...