BOSTON, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have created a small swatch of heart tissue that has many hallmarks of mature cardiac tissue.
"We have been trying to engineer a patch of tissue that has the same properties as native heart tissue, or myocardium, that could be attached over injured myocardium," said study leader Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. "Think of it as a patch for a broken heart."
The MIT approach involves seeding cardiac cells, in this case from a rat, onto a 3D polymer scaffold that slowly biodegrades as the cells develop into a full tissue. The cell/scaffold constructs -- a little smaller than a dime and about the same thickness -- are bathed in a medium that supplies nutrients and gases.
Using a patent-pending technique, the researchers then apply electrical signals designed to mimic those in a heart.
The findings are published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
