Tissue Damaged By Heart Attack Could Be Repaired By Injectable Gel

Tissue Damaged By Heart Attack Could Be Repaired By Injectable Gel

The hydrogel is made from cardiac connective tissue that is stripped of heart muscle cells through a cleansing process, freeze-dried and milled into powder form, and then liquefied into a fluid that can be easily injected into the heart. Once it hits body temperature, the liquid turns into a semi-solid, porous gel that encourages cells to repopulate areas of damaged cardiac tissue and to preserve heart function, according to Christman. The hydrogel forms a scaffold to repair the tissue and possibly provides biochemical signals that prevent further deterioration in the surrounding tissues.

"It helps to promote a positive remodeling-type response, not a pro-inflammatory one in the damaged heart," Christman said.

The study by Karen Christman and colleagues published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

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http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/abstract/59/8/751