A team of researchers at the University of Minnesota has succeeded in printing human heart muscles in a laboratory using stereotyping techniques, which may help save the lives of thousands of heart patients, given that heart disease is the main cause of the death of more than 60 thousand people in the United States only annually.
The Science Daily website, which specializes in technology, reported that researchers used a type of stem cell, which can be converted to any other type of human cell, in addition to a mixture of proteins, as an ink for the stereoscopic printer.
The muscle size that the researchers printed was 1.5 cm, and was specifically designed to fit into the size of the thoracic cavity, for further studies.
The study team confirmed that the newly manufactured cardiac muscle can be used to study cardiac functions and health problems that it may be exposed to.
This study represents a major breakthrough in the field of cardiac research, because it demonstrates how heart muscle cells can be created using a stereotactic method, in a way that allows these cells to organize themselves and work together, said researcher Brenda Ogil from the University of Minnesota Department of Science and Engineering.
She added: "There has now become a practical model for monitoring what is happening inside the human heart at the cellular level ... We can introduce diseases and problems on this model to see the effect of medicinal substances and other treatment methods on them."
The new muscle can be used to study cardiac function and problems.