Healthcare e-Compendium
A joint initiative of DPSRU & DRSC
Healthcare e-Compendium
A joint initiative of DPSRU & DRSC
Author: Medical Team (Alniche Life Sciences)
Blog
download ArticleResearchers from the University of Toronto and University of Montreal has addressed the globe to a marvelous research by reverse-engineering a growing millimetere long vessel that beats like a biological human heart.
Background
Everyday life is filled with depression,stress, tension and long working hours.This could induce an improper lifestyle and various cardiovascular diseases which could be life threatening as well . We may switch to several drug therapies ,but till when? Lifelong?
Among 17.9 million people or 32% of total deaths ,85% were due to Cardiovascular diseases. We can treat CVDs symptomatically,but it can never be cured to the pre-diseased state. In the path of unearthing the rigid solution to this dilemma the scientists and researchers have grown tissues of human heart in lab and it beats! Synthesising a pumping heart tissue might result in the development of a complete human heart in future.
Methodology
Man made human heart in a form of 2-D cell sheet was wrapped on a scaffold using a mandrel resulting in a thin 3-D miniature tissues. This 3-D organoid have a potential to screen the therapeutic efficacy of newly developed pharmaceutical compounds. The fabrication can be done by polymerization through combining cells and biomaterials resulting in fabrication of a three layered tissues embodying endocardium,myocardium and epicardium which mimics the human heart tisues as it beats. Spontaneous as well as synchronous beating of this thin 3-D miniature heart was achieved by externally applying an electric field of 2.5 V per cm with the maximum frequency of 4±0.5 Hz.
During the gestation period till nineteen weeks or G19 ,the myofibers that are present in foetal heart undergo orientation by rotating from -60° to +60° , followed by further contraction. After this period of G19 phase,further orientation of myofibrils is suspended as ejection and contraction of heart is generated due to action potential.
Since researchers have not synthesized brain to induce action potential, they instead fabricated an in vitro left ventricle that mimicked the tissues of G19 with the help of constructing an elastomeric scaffold using microchannel injection with groove orientation. This is a 2-D single sheet of alligned cardiomyocytes with size of 200-300µm. On wrapping this 2-D single sheet in form of a cylindrical cone, cellular connectivity is achieved. The ejection volume of this artificial organoid which is observed to be 5% than that of a human heart can be accessed by using a conductance catheter.
Way forward
This innovative research of 3-D organoid would contibute in new drug screening, the availabe novel techniques such as 3-D printing, AI, Signal processing would make it posiible to develope a physiologically functional human heart or “Complete unnatural human heart to save human”
With this future goal to synthesize further more organs, scientists are sailing towards their further journey to fabricate organs so as to save life of many people.
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