Heart cells have been successfully grown in a human heart stripped of all cellular components by scientists at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Using detergent, scientists removed all cells and human leukocyte antigens from 73 human hearts. The ‘matrix’ of the heart was then repopulated with pluripotent stem cells induced to differentiate into cardiac muscle. The scientists behind the work hope to create cardiac muscle to repair damaged tissue.
Professor Jacques Guyette, from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and lead author of this study, said: “Regenerating a whole heart is most certainly a long-term goal that is several years away, so we are currently working on engineering a functional myocardial patch that could replace cardiac tissue damaged due a heart attack or heart failure.”
In 2008, Dr Harold Ott, also from the MGH, developed a procedure to strip all cells from organs, leaving just the ‘scaffolding’ behind. To date, his technique has been used on hearts, lungs, livers, pancreases and kidneys.
MicroRNA molecules were used to reprogramme adult skin cells to created induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). It is hoped this method, as well as being more efficient, will be less likely to encounter regulatory issues.
Source: labnews; thedailybeast
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