A team of scientists from University College London (UK) has created a bioelectric spray that can form a plaque of cardiac cells in an infarcted heart.
When a heart attack occurs, a part of the heart muscle deprived of oxygen dies, and subsequently heals. The affected region does not beat and this can make it difficult to pump blood and oxygen to and from the heart, which affects the quality of life of the person who survives the heart attack. The new device, manufactured by Suwan Jayasinghe and his colleagues, allows a jet of cardiac cells to be fired at 10,000 volts at the scarred heart tissue . Specifically, it is a syringe full of cells that, after passing through a needle to form cell plates, are stimulated by electrical current and propelled out.
"What we get is a fine jet that breaks down into a multitude of particles and these particles form the plate," explained Jayasinghe. Other types of cells could be added to this patch to create three-dimensional heart tissue, the researchers suggest.
