Australian scientists create tiny beating heart for heart disease research

Australian researchers have achieved the first two goals that will help the global effort to combat heart disease: namely, to make a tiny heart beat with its own vascular system, and the second to discover how the vascular system affects heart damage caused by inflammation.

Millions of deaths annually

According to the “New Atlas” website, quoting the “Cell Reports” journal, cardiovascular diseases are among the leading causes of death worldwide. According to the World Health Organization “WHO”, cardiovascular diseases claim an estimated 17.9 million lives annually. Mortality rates from cardiovascular diseases are expected to rise, given population aging and the impact of lifestyle risk factors.

heart disease

Cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease includes any condition that affects the heart or circulation, such as heart attack, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and vascular dementia. Given the prevalence of CVD, it is important that research continues to uncover new ways to prevent and diagnose this group of diseases. and treat it.

Small structures that mimic the heart

Australian researchers have accelerated research in the field of heart disease by making organelles, small structures that mimic human organs, grown in the laboratory using human pluripotent stem cells, which can be created using “reprogrammed” skin or blood cells.

James Hudson, one of the researchers on the study, said: ‘Each organelle of the heart is about the size of a chia seed, only 1.5 millimeters across, but inside it are 50,000 cells representing the different types of cells that make up the heart.

From a group of small organelles, the researchers created a beating heart. The step in itself is not new, but it is the first time that vascular cells, the cells that line blood vessels, can be successfully combined, bringing the model heart closer to the real human heart.

Hudson said: “Incorporating vascular cells for the first time into miniature heart muscles is very important because they have been found to play a key role in tissue biology, as vascular cells make organelles work better and beat stronger, in what is a new first that will help to better understand the heart.” accurately modeling the disease.

Added discovery

The added bonus of vascular cells means researchers can investigate how they affect inflammation, which can cause atherosclerosis and inflammation of the heart muscle. In another study, the researchers revealed the key role the vascular system plays in inflammation-induced heart muscle injury.

A major role for vascular cells

Hudson said, “When inflammation was stimulated in the small muscles of the heart, it was found that vascular cells play a major role.” Tissue sclerosis, which contains only vascular cells, appeared, which means that the cells sensed what was happening and changed their behavior, and thus were identified. That the cells release a factor called endothelin that mediates the sclerosis.”

The researchers say that further discovery, combined with the use of new heart organoids, could lead to new treatments for heart disease more quickly.

Kidney and brain diseases

Publishing the study, the researchers say, will help researchers around the world create their own blood vessel organoids, boosting global efforts to tackle heart disease. .

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