Bone Marrow

You decide: is bone marrow an organ or a liquid?  The difference is important, because for 28 years it has been illegal to sell body organs in the US and until last year, bone marrow was considered an organ.  With mobilization of bone marrow cells into the peripheral blood and separation by apheresis, however, a federal court has rules that hematopoietic stem cells are a liquid (similar to sperm and plasma) and can be sold for as much as $3,000 per harvest.  Among other things, this raises the business prospects for commercial biorepositories, including those connected to hospitals.    MORE

Image Credit: Timothy Vollmer/Flickr and SmartPlanet.com