MIT grows beating heart tissue

[wdlove]

MIT researchers have used cells harvested from rats to develop tissue capable of beating like a heart. It grows to dime size and with electrical stimulation its capable of twitching like a beating heart. They are trying to graft this to an actual rat heart. Looking forward to the day that this can be used with a diseased human heart.

http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2004/12/14/mit_grows_beating_heart_tissue/

 

[spasticmutant]

MIT researchers have used cells harvested from rats to develop tissue capable of beating like a heart. It grows to dime size and with electrical stimulation its capable of twitching like a beating heart. They are trying to graft this to an actual rat heart. Looking forward to the day that this can be used with a diseased human heart.

http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2004/12/14/mit_grows_beating_heart_tissue/

Hope for the ladies at www.heartless-bitches.com! But what I really need is a heart that I can turn on and off; dumping season starts three weeks after Valentine's Day, and I want to be ready.


Anne Marie

 

[Mr_Ed]

Hope for the ladies at www.heartless-bitches.com! But what I really need is a heart that I can turn on and off; dumping season starts three weeks after Valentine's Day, and I want to be ready.


Anne Marie

Just tell your 'significant other' to dump you now and get it over with

 

[question fear]

Hope for the ladies at www.heartless-bitches.com! But what I really need is a heart that I can turn on and off; dumping season starts three weeks after Valentine's Day, and I want to be ready.


Anne Marie

bitter much??

on topic, the article sounds pretty good. i'm not much of a medical person, but does this allow people to have tissue transplants the body won't reject?

 

[tpjunkie]

I wish the article included some more scientfific description of what was done, in my cellular regulation class last year we harvested cardiac cells from developing chicken embryos (going through eggs until we found ones with fetuses in them was a little nasty) and grew them in culture. The cells reproduced and beat on their own, and when seperately beating clusters of cells connected, they would begin beating together. This was without any particular special treatment other than nutrient medium and a warm incubator, so I'm trying to see what exactly the MIT team did that makes this different or special.

 

[wdlove]

In this research it sounds as though they were using random tissue from the rats. Then using biotechnology were able to get the tissue to grow into heart tissue capable of beating rhythmically. This type of tissue would possibly be an advance to resist the usual problem with organ rejection. In many cases it just that the existing heart needs a boost in pumping action.