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Magnetic Nanoparticles Help Heal Post Infarct Hearts
Heart attacks result in dead myocardial tissue that forms a scar, and so patients are left with a chronically weakened heart. Replacement heart
Cells or stems
Cells that can become desired cardiac
Cells can be grown in the lab and injected into the dead tissue, but it’s a major challenge to keep them in place long enough for them to be established as a bonafide part of the heart. Now researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany have reported on a new way of using magnets to lure injected
Cells to gather on or near the heart, giving
Cells a better chance to survive.
The researchers attached
Magnetic Nanoparticles to embryonic cardiomyocytes and embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes that were designed to be injected into
Post Infarct mice. A magnet was then placed within millimeters of the heart and the
Cells delivered into the damaged tissue. The same was done with the same kinds of cells, but without the attached
Nanoparticles in order to provide a control group. All the injected
Cells were made to be fluorescent, so as to be able to be followed to their destiny following the injections.
When the researchers compared the groups of mice, they discovered that the mice treated with
Cells connected to
Magnetic Nanoparticles had significantly more of the introduced
Cells attach themselves to the heart. Additionally, more of these
Cells managed to survive and proliferate compared to the unattached cells.
The technology is extremely promising and may provide the first true treatment option for heart attacks that actually restores dead
Cells with live ones and brings the organ back to a similar state in which it was before.
Study abstract in journal
Biomaterials:
Improved heart repair upon myocardial infarction: Combination of magnetic nanoparticles and tailored magnets strongly increases engraftment of myocytes…
