Heart patients will now be able to lead a longer life, all thanks to Technion-Israel Institute of Technology researchers who have turned out to be successful in creation of a new heart muscle with its own blood supply by making use of human embryonic stem cells. This muscle could be replaced with damaged cardiac tissues in heart attacks.
This is the first instance where 3D human cardiac tissue complete with blood vessels have been created and this could lead to distinctive applications for studying cardiac development and tissue replacement therapy.
The heart muscle was engineered by a 3D plastic scaffold with blood vessel cells and heart muscle cells produced by human embryonic stem cells and embryonic fibroblasts. A number of tests were conducted in order to ensure that the muscles behaved like heart tissue.
Via medicalnewstoday
