• Profile
Close

Mending hearts in three dimensions

Osaka University Research News Nov 16, 2017

The creation of cardiac tissue-like constructs could offer an effective and convenient “woundplast” for repairing myocardial infarction.

Researchers from Kyoto University iCeMS and Osaka University have made biodegradable aligned nanofibers as a scaffold for culturing cardiomyocytes (CMs) derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). These CMs form myofibril-aligned, multi-layered and 3D-organized Cardiac Tissue-Like Constructs (CTLCs), which show robust drug response and may be readily used for repair of injured rat hearts with myocardial infarctions.

Researchers from the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) of Kyoto University and the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery of Osaka University have developed effective and convenient Cardiac Tissue-Like Constructs (CTLCs) for repairing myocardial infarctions.

Cardiovascular diseases such as infarctions are the leading cause of death globally. A seriously injured heart cannot recover by itself, and heart transplants are the only effective treatment. However, the waiting list for transplants is extremely long. Previous researchers have also used cell transplant technologies to repair injured hearts, but these used CMs organized in two dimensions with a random, myofibril structure, which is different from natural heart tissue.

Dr. Li Liu and Prof. Yong Chen of iCeMS, together with professor Yoshiki Sawa of Osaka University and colleagues, selected a PLGA material approved by the FDA, and prepared biodegradable, aligned nanofibers for culturing CMs derived from hiPSCs, successfully creating organized and functional CTLCs.

They found that the CMs infiltrated and enveloped the nanofibers, showing elongation and high organization with upregulated expression of cardiac markers. Their CTLCs demonstrated more robust drug response compared with 2D CMs.

The team also used the CTLCs to simulate the repairing of disconnected and arrhythmia CMs. When used to repair injured rat hearts, the CTLCs showed excellent operability leading to favorable heart function recovery.

Future studies are now being planned to use CTLCs to repair injured hearts of larger animals, before advancing to clinical applications.

The research report titled, "Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiac Tissue-Like Constructs for Repairing of the Infarcted Myocardium," was published in the jornal Stem Cell Reports.
Go to Original
Only Doctors with an M3 India account can read this article. Sign up for free or login with your existing account.
4 reasons why Doctors love M3 India
  • Exclusive Write-ups & Webinars by KOLs

  • Nonloggedininfinity icon
    Daily Quiz by specialty
  • Nonloggedinlock icon
    Paid Market Research Surveys
  • Case discussions, News & Journals' summaries
Sign-up / Log In
x
M3 app logo
Choose easy access to M3 India from your mobile!


M3 instruc arrow
Add M3 India to your Home screen
Tap  Chrome menu  and select "Add to Home screen" to pin the M3 India App to your Home screen
Okay