Duke University biomedical engineers have grown
three-dimensional human heart muscle that acts just like natural tissue. This
advancement could be important in treating heart attack patients or in serving
as a platform for testing new heart disease medicines.
The “heart patch” grown in the laboratory from human cells
overcomes two major obstacles facing cell-based therapies – the patch conducts
electricity at about the same speed as natural heart cells and it “squeezes”
appropriately. Earlier attempts to create functional heart patches have largely
been unable to overcome those obstacles.