We are one step closer to the goal of
repairing dead heart muscle in human beings, because of a research breakthrough
by biomedical engineers at Duke
University. The researchers have succeeded in creating a fully functioning
artificial human heart muscle large enough to patch the area typically seen in
patients who have suffered a heart attack.
The study was published on line in
Nature Communications on November 28, 2017.
Ilia Shadrin, a biomedical engineering
doctoral student at Duke University and first author on the study said in a
newsletter, "Right now, virtually all existing therapies are aimed at
reducing the symptoms from the damage that's already been done to the heart,
but no approaches have been able to replace the muscle that's lost, because
once it's dead, it does not grow back on its own. This is a way that we could
replace lost muscle with tissue made outside the body."
It is estimated that around 12 million
people worldwide suffer for myocardial infarction and continue living with the
damaged tissue that could not contract or send electrical signals, both of
which are necessary for proper heart function.
The heart patch is grown from human
pluripotent stem cells and contains a myriad of different type of cells like
cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, and endothelial and smooth muscle cells, to
create a tissue patch similar to functioning heart muscle. The patch can
secrete enzymes and growth hormone that could help in recovering from the
ischemic damage.
All these cells are put in specific
combination in a jelly-like substance, where they reorganize and grow into
functioning tissue. Each individual tissue patch has to be ‘custom made’ in
separate container that needs a rocking and swaying motion, instead of being
static.
Currently, these patches have been
successfully into animal hearts. The researchers have to make many modifications
to create the same tissue for human heart like increasing the thickness and
vascularization.
Here is the video by Duke University
showing the patch contracting on its own, a 3D visualization of the patch’s
cells, and the rocking bath that proved critical to the heart patch’s
record-breaking size.
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