A team of scientist has come up with a new method that may make the heart surgeries a history.
Researchers have demonstrated the effectiveness of a minimally invasive method to form a regenerative cardiac patch that promotes repair of damaged cardiac tissue in a mouse model of a heart attack.
Biomaterials sprayed onto the heart formed a platelet fibrin gel, called a cardiac patch, that helps the heart heal without the need for sutures or glue.
Junnan Tang, Adam Vandergriff, and co-authors from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, North Carolina State University and NC State College of Veterinary Medicine (Raleigh), The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (China), and Soochow University (Suzhou, China) report on the materials used to form the platelet fibrin gel and the delivery method they used.
In the article, the researchers showed that the sprayed-on materials were non-toxic to the heart muscle, would adhere to the heart and degrade over time, and could release a variety of growth factors to promote cardiac repair.
"The spray painting method, as described in this manuscript, is an excellent example of how tissue engineering has evolved since the 1990s," said researcher John A. Jansen. "The described delivery method is easy to apply in clinics and shows significant potential for patient treatment."
The study appears in Tissue Engineering, Part C.