heart repair Archives - Amazing Health Advances

New Light-Based Technique Could Transform Heart Tissue Repair

The AHA! Team — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 06:41:38 +0000

Mass General Brigham via News-Medical – Researchers from Mass General Brigham and collaborating institutions have developed a non-invasive approach to manipulate cardiac tissue activity by using light to stimulate an innovative ink incorporated into bioprinted tissue. Researchers from Mass General Brigham and collaborating institutions have developed a non-invasive approach to manipulate cardiac tissue activity by using light to stimulate an innovative ink incorporated into bioprinted tissue. Their goal is to develop a technique that can be used to repair the heart. Their findings in preclinical models, published in Science Advances, show the transformative potential of non-invasive therapeutic methods to control electrically active tissues. “We showed for the first time that with this optoelectronically active ink, we can print scaffolds that allow remote control of engineered heart tissues. This approach paves the way for non-invasive light stimulation, tissue regeneration, and host integration capabilities in cardiac therapy and beyond.” – Y. Shrike Zhang, PhD, co-corresponding author of the Division of Engineering in Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital Three-dimensional bioprinted tissues composed of cells and other body-compatible materials are a powerful emerging tool to repair damaged heart tissue. But most bioprinted tissues cannot generate the necessary electrical activity for cellular function. They must instead rely on invasive wire and electrode placement to control heart activity, which can damage body tissues. Zhang and his colleagues addressed this limitation by infusing the bioprinted tissue with the “optoelectronically active” ink that can be remotely stimulated by light to generate electrical activity in these tissues. The authors also showed that these new, dynamic engineered tissues can synchronize with and accelerate the heart rate when stimulated by light in preclinical models. “Now that we have established the proof-of-concept for this technology, we are shifting our efforts towards understanding how it might promote long-term tissue regeneration and integrating it seamlessly within the heart’s biology,” said Zhang. Source: Mass General Brigham Journal reference: Ershad, F., et al. (2025) Bioprinted optoelectronically active cardiac tissues. Science Advances. doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adt7210. To read the original article click here.

The post New Light-Based Technique Could Transform Heart Tissue Repair appeared first on Amazing Health Advances.

Sky-Blue Dye Could Help Repair Damaged Heart Tissue

AHA Publisher — Thu, 23 Jan 2020 06:11:46 +0000

ISRAEL21c Staff – The small molecule reduces damaging inflammation and improves heart function in mouse models of heart attack, say Israeli scientists. A non-toxic blue dye commonly used in biology labs helps repair damaged heart tissue in mice, say researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. As described in the Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight, a dye molecule called Chicago Sky Blue reduced scar size and improved heart function of adult mice following induced myocardial infarction (heart attack). Once damaged, heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) can never regenerate. But when research student Oren Yifa and his team injected Chicago Sky Blue into the post-heart attack mice in the molecular cell biology lab of Prof. Eldad Tzahor, the mice’s heart function improved. Their research suggests that the dye works in two ways: reducing inflammation and inhibiting the actions of a certain enzyme overproduced in heart disease. “In my lab, most of the time we focus on finding drugs that can promote cardiomyocyte renewal,” said Tzahor. “This research showed us that we also need to pay attention to other processes that take place following a heart attack, including inflammation and impairment in contractility. Because Chicago Sky Blue is non-toxic, we think it might be tested to prevent further damage following the initial injury of a heart attack.” The results point to the potential of Chicago Sky Blue as a therapeutic agent for enhancing cardiac repair and function even when heart muscle cells are permanently damaged. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Israel21c click here.

The post Sky-Blue Dye Could Help Repair Damaged Heart Tissue appeared first on Amazing Health Advances.

New Technique Lays Foundation for Regenerative Cardiac Therapies

AHA Publisher — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 08:00:05 +0000

Van Andel Institute via Newswise – Scientists have devised a technique to sort out which heart cells can replicate and which cannot, a critical step toward treatments that may one day help the heart heal itself after injury. Newswise — GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Nov. 6, 2019) The method, published in the journal Circulation Research, removes a significant roadblock to developing ways to regrow healthy cardiac muscle tissue, a feat not currently possible. “This new technique solves a longstanding problem that for years has stymied our ability to develop regenerative treatments for the heart,” said Stefan Jovinge, M.D., Ph.D., the study’s senior author and director of the DeVos Cardiovascular Research Program at Van Andel Institute and Spectrum Health. “It’s a major step forward that we aim to translate into improved patient care.” For decades, scientists have searched for ways to harness the heart’s regenerative potential to fix damage related to heart attack and heart failure, but their attempts have been largely unsuccessful. Unlike the skin or bones, which readily heal by stitching together wounds or breaks with new, healthy cells, heart muscle cells largely lose their ability to replicate early in life (instead, they progress through the cell cycle but, in most cases, they do not actually divide). This leaves patients and physicians with only a few surgical options to mitigate further damage and just one option to totally repair the problem should the damage be too severe: a heart transplant. The new method combines two technologies — molecular beacon technology and fluorescence activated cell-sorting — to specifically isolate cells that successfully divide. This will allow scientists to determine the mechanisms underlying heart muscle cells’ regenerative potential, which is critical to the development of regenerative strategies aimed to cure patients with heart injury. “Now that we can accurately identify these cells, we can start to determine the mechanisms that allow them to divide and develop ways to jump-start this process,” Jovinge said. “This work is an excellent example of how basic research can have a major impact on future clinical care.” The findings build on previous research by Jovinge’s team that showed, contrary to long-held beliefs, some cells in the heart are indeed capable of replicating. This discovery was hailed as a “notable advance of 2015” by Nature Medicine, one of the world’s top medical research journals. In addition to Jovinge, authors include Hsiao-yun Y. Milliron, Ph.D., Matthew J. Weiland, M.S., and Eric J. Kort, M.D., M.S. of the DeVos Cardiovascular Research Program, a joint effort between Van Andel Institute and Spectrum Health. Van Andel Institute’s Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core, Genomics Core and Optical Imaging Core also contributed to this work. To read the original article click here.

The post New Technique Lays Foundation for Regenerative Cardiac Therapies appeared first on Amazing Health Advances.