Finally, a injectable tissue bandage to mend "broken hearts"

The flexible tissue scaffold, shown here emerging from a glass pipette with a tip one millimeter wide

Scientists at University of Toronto have developed an expanding tissue patch that works like a bandage in mending broken hearts. Repairing ischemic heart muscles destroyed by a cardiac event with regenerative stem cells requires an open-heart surgery.

Open-heart surgery is an invasive and risky approach after a heart attack and delivering the regenerative patch through a minimally invasive approach was thought to be impossible.

But now biomedical engineering Professor Milica Radisic (IBBME, ChemE, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute) and her colleagues have developed a technique that lets them use a small needle to inject a repair patch, without the need to open up the chest cavity.

This team is already expert in growing 3D slices of human tissue in laboratory using polymer scaffolds. These tissues are used to test drugs pharmacokinetics in lab.

Professor Milica Radisic says, “If an implant requires open-heart surgery, it’s not going to be widely available to patients,” says Radisic. She says that after a myocardial infarction — a heart attack — the heart’s function is reduced so much that invasive procedures like open-heart surgery usually pose more risks than potential benefits. It’s just too dangerous.”

The researchers have developed a patch that can pass through a narrow needle, and after reaching the target site it still has the memory to spring back to its original shape.

The scaffold is made out of some biodegradable and biocaompatible material that breaks down over time as the stem cells regenerate and form new muscle tissue.

The experiment has already been successful in animal studies and have shown that the patch can improve heart function after myocardial infarction.

The study was Published online 14 August 2017 in Journal of Nature Materials.

 Miles Montgomery, a researcher involved in the study said, “Heart cells are extremely sensitive, so if we can do it with them, we can likely do it with other tissues as well.”

The researchers are working to develop patch for other organs like liver with add-on of growth factor and drugs to be delivered at the site.

It’s a long way before clinical trials are completed and the treatment is available for patients but, a cure for mending “broken hearts” is on the way.

Here is the video to explain how injectable tissue patch could help repair damaged organs.

 Source: http://news.engineering.utoronto.ca/injectable-tissue-patch-help-repair-damaged-organs/?_ga=2.93569119.394779191.1502789898-663005651.1501066276