The threat from a heart attack doesn't end with the event itself. Blockage of blood flow to the heart can cause irreversible cell death and scarring. With transplants scarce, half the people who live through a heart attack die within five years. Scientists are trying to address this problem by engineering cardiac tissue to patch up damaged areas.

Now doctoral students have fabricated fibers shaped like springs that allow engineered cardiac tissue to pump more like the real thing. They reported their findings in the journal Biomaterials in August.

Cardiac tissue is engineered by allowing cells taken from the hearts of patients or animals to grow on a three-dimensional scaffold, which replaces the extracellular matrix, a collagen grid that naturally supports the cells in the heart. Over time, the cells come together to form a tissue that generates its own electrical impulses and expands and contracts spontaneously. The tissue can then be surgically implanted to replace damaged tissue and improve heart function in patients.

More recently, the researchers identified spiral-shaped collagen fibers in the extracellular matrix of rat hearts. Seeing the potential for an advance, they set out to recreate them for the first time. After fabricating the spring-like fibers using advanced techniques, they subjected them to a variety of tests.

As the researchers predicted, the spring-like fibers showed better mechanical properties than straight fibers, with especially improved elasticity. And compared to tissue engineered with straight fibers, the tissue engineered with spring-like fibers contracted with greater force and less mechanical resistance.

"These properties are very important, because we want to transplant the tissue into the human heart, which expands and contracts constantly," says one of the researchers.

See the original paper online here

This story is reprinted from material from Tel Aviv University, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier. Link to original source.