On new lab chip, heart cells display a behavior-guiding ‘nanosense’

Heart disease is on the rise as human life spans increase with rapid progression in the medical field. Deterioration of cardiac muscle can be caused by a plethora of diseases or simply aging, and many times, this can be fatal. The problem with reparation of cardiac tissue is that it is very fragile, and also very complex. Using stem cells to “grow back” heart tissue seems like a simple concept, because somatic stem cell therapy has been done numerous times, but transdifferentiation of stem cells for the heart has many complications. In addition, heart tissue is very difficult to emulate, and as such has posed a big problem for the millions of patients with heart disease or in need of therapeutic cardiac procedures.

Biomedical engineers at Johns Hopkins University, in conjunction with colleagues from Seoul National University in Korea, have developed a laboratory chip with nanogrooves which allow for heart cells to be cultured and develop to be closer to actual heart tissue than ever before. This tool not only allows researchers to study heart diseases more readily and develop remedies, but also opens up doorways for new therapies or diagnostic tests for heart disease.

I found this article very interesting because my uncle and grandfather are both affected with heart ailments and have both been hospitalized as a result. I believe that had their heart disease been detected earlier or had there been a better therapy or remedy for their respective cardiac problems, they could have avoided being stranded in a hospital bed. With the potential development of new procedures or diagnostic tests using this lab chip, the ability of hospitals and cardiac surgeons to treat patients could greatly increase.

Source:

http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=7950