New heart muscle cells (green with yellow nuclei) grow in the infarcted region of a mouse heart treated by the patch loaded with FSTL1.UC SAN DIEGO/SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTETo find a way to repair the damage that happens to cardiac tissue after a heart attack, researchers have developed a patch that delivers a regenerative molecule to the organ’s surface. A team led by Stanford University’s Pilar Ruiz-Lozano reported in Nature yesterday (September 16) that the implant helps restore cardiac function to mice and pigs who have had a heart attack.
“Many were so sick prior to getting the patch that they would have been candidates for heart transplantation,” Ruiz-Lozano told BBC News. “The hope is that a similar procedure could eventually be used in human heart attack patients who suffer severe heart damage.”
The scientists conducted a screen for molecules that could spur the production of cardiomyocytes in vitro, and homed in on a protein, Follistatin-like 1 (FSTL1). They then designed a collagen-based material coated in FSTL1, and placed it on the hearts of pigs and mice forced to have a heart attack.
Within a month, the researchers observed cardiomyocyte division among animals treated with FSTL1, along with improved cardiac function, less scarring, and better survival.
“It could act like a cell nursery,” Ruiz-Lozano said ...
