Patch against ischemia
According to the American Heart Association (ACS), heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. During a myocardial infarction, arterial occlusion and associated hypoxia lead to mass death of cardiomyocytes, damage to blood vessels and inflammation. Researchers from ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering have developed a cardiac patch with artificial blood vessels that improved the condition of the myocardium in rats and pigs after a heart attack.
For effective treatment of myocardial infarction, the heart tissue must regenerate, new blood vessels must be formed for the nutrition and respiration of cells. Scientists have previously tried to develop patches containing various cells for the treatment of myocardial infarction, but most of them turned out to be too bulky and complicated to manufacture, and smaller models did not restore the heart muscle and blood supply to the damaged area. Ke Cheng and his colleagues had previously developed a relatively easy-to-manufacture patch that consisted of artificial microvessels in a fibrin gel with the addition of cardiac stromal cells. When implanted in rats after myocardial infarction, the cells in the patch secreted growth factors that caused the heart muscle and blood vessels to regenerate. In the new study, the team additionally tested the patch on rats, as well as on pigs, whose cardiovascular system is most similar to that of humans among other animals.
The researchers implanted the patch in rats that had recently suffered a myocardial infarction. Four weeks later, these animals had less scar tissue, increased heart muscle, and improved pumping function of the heart compared to untreated rats. The group observed similar effects in pigs that had a patch implanted after a myocardial infarction. They increased the number of progenitor cells in the damaged area and increased the growth of new blood vessels, as well as stopped the death of cardiomyocytes and suppressed inflammation.
Previous studies have already used cells forming blood vessels or blood vessels themselves to vascularize an ischemic area of the heart, but this work is the first to demonstrate the success of implantation of stromal cells using engineered blood vessels for the treatment of myocardial infarction in large animals. Additional studies of the mechanisms of action, safety and effectiveness of the new patch are needed. If successful, this technology can be applied to humans.
Article T.Su et al. Cardiac Stromal Cell Patch Integrated with Engineered Microvessels Improves Recovery from Myocardial Infarction in Rats and Pigs is published in the journal ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on ACS materials: A patch that could help heal broken hearts.