Researchers from the University of Tel Aviv have for the first time created a heart with blood tubes, ventricles, and a sleeve-sized body of a rabbit, thanks to a 3D printer and the patient's own cell and biological material.

 

"In our process, these materials serve as biotxertos, they are substances made from sugars and proteins, which can be used for the printing of complex fabric patterns in 3D. People have, in the past, managed to print the structure of a heart, but not with cells or blood vessels. Our results clearly show the strength of our vision for the replacement of customized engineering and future organs, "explains Tal Dvir, the principal author of the research, (published in the journal Advanced Science).

 

This heart was 'printing', a patient with a hundred greasy biopsy. While cells were reprogrammed to become stem cells, a three-dimensional network of macromolecules outside the cell, a non-cellular stem cell, and a macromolecular cell like glycoproteins, was processed with a customized urge that was used as a printing ink.

 

After mixing with the water gel, cells were effectively differentiated in the heart or endothelial cells, creating cardiac patches for the patient, with the immune system, blood vessels, and then with all the heart. According to Dvir, the use of specific patient-specific materials is "decisive" for successful tissue and organ engineering.

 

"The biocompatibility of engineering materials is a deciding factor to avoid the risk of an implant rejection, which causes the success of this kind of treatment. Ideally, biomaterials have biochemical, mechanical and topographical properties of the inherent tissues of the patient. Here we have obtained thick, vascularized and perfusible cardiac tissues in 3D, which are fully compatible with the patient's immune, cellular, biochemical and anatomic properties, "the researcher says.

 

His team now plans to work on printed cards in the lab and "teach how to behave" with normal hearts. They then want to transplant 3D-printed heart into animal models. "We need to develop this printed heart more. Cells must create pumping capacity. Nowadays we can contract, but we need to work together. Our hope is to be successful and demonstrate the efficiency and benefit of our method, "says Dvir.

 

The final product is a heart of 3 cents, equivalent to the size of the heart of a rat or a rabbit. "It's still very basic, and the next step is to build that heart to allow the pump," says Dvir. For the time being, "the cells can not shrink, but the entire heart is not pumped. We need to develop more to obtain a body that can be transplanted into a human being. "

 

"The next challenge is to work on these cells and help them communicate with each other so they can get together. They need to be taught how to behave properly. And then we will have another challenge, that is, to develop a bigger heart with more cells. We need to find out how to create enough cells to produce a human heart, "adds Dvir, who hopes" for ten or fifteen years afterwards to provide 3D printers in hospitals, which will provide patients with the fabric, perhaps hearts. "