Friday, 02 November 2012 20:59

Heart tissue from pluripotent stem cells beats at a similar rate as natural heart muscle Featured

A team of scientists have been successfully in cultivating stem cells from human heart muscle tissue that can contract just as strong as natural tissue.

The researchers led by Prof. Axel Haverich, Head of Cardio-Thoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery at the Hannover Medical School (MHH)  in collaboration with researchers from the Göttingen University used stem cells derived from adult skin or other body cells and returned them to a stem cell state. From these induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, the researchers cultured heart muscle cells as a basis for the new tissue. The myocardial cells were directly cultured in three-dimensional aggregates followed by a pruification. For the production of these fully functionating aggregates, the addition of connective tissue, ascorbic acid, which promote the establishment of the extracellular matrix and the fusion of the aggregates, as well as a mechanical stress caused by stretching was important.

In the near future the generated cardiac tissue is proposed to be used for drug testing and basic research into various heart diseases.

More information (in German): http://scinexx.de/
Literature: http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/