A Simple Method to Improve Heart-attack Repair Using Stem Cell-derived Heart Muscle Cells

摘要

The heart cannot regenerate muscle tissue after a heart attack has killed part of the muscle wall.That dead tissue can strain surrounding muscle,leading to a lethal heart enlargement.Biomedical engineers believe they can aid the failing heart by using pluripotent stem cells to grow heart muscle cells outside of the body,and then injecting those muscle cells or adding a patch made from those cells,at or near the site of the dead heart tissue.Experimental and clinical trial evidence with this approach has shown moderate improvement of the pumping ability of the heart's left ventricle.