Scientists make heart tissue breakthrough
Published: January 28, 2006
Scientists in Scotland have developed patches of tissue to mend damaged hearts, which could prevent heart attack victims from having to spend the rest of their lives on medication.
A team from Dundee University have successfully grown a tube of heart tissue using cells from newborn rats.
The tube beat like a heart, pulsed faster when adrenaline was applied and responded to medicine like a normal organ.
Dr Keith Baar, who led the research, said he hoped the development could transform the lives of thousands of people left crippled by cardiac arrests.
He told The Herald that covering a cardiac patient’s damaged section of heart with a patch grown from a sample of their own cells would prove a more efficient alternative to putting them on a waiting list for a heart transplant.
It would save them from spending the remainder of their lives on medication, he said.
The breakthrough was welcomed by the British Heart Foundation, who said the research had “very great” potential.
“Anything that will improve the chance of having quality of life after a heart attack is a good thing,” said spokesman Iain Lowis.
The researchers will now attempt to grow sections of heart in laboratories.
Dr Baar hopes that trials to repair the damaged heart muscle of people with cardiac problems could begin as early as 2015.
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