" This is the first time someone has built and successfully printed the whole heart with full cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers. " said Professor Tal Dvir of the International Institute of Biological and Biotechnology. TAU molecular cell, the leader of the research team shared.
Tal Dvir has partnered with Professor assaf Shapira of TAU’s Life Sciences Department and Dr. Nadav Moor. Their research was published in Advanced Science .
Heart transplant is often the only treatment for patients with end-stage heart failure. Waiting lists for patients in the US can be up to at least six months. In Israel and the United States, many patients died while waiting to be given the chance to survive.
Dvir explains: " This 3D heart is made of cells and biological materials for patients. In the study, these materials act as biological ink, substances made of sugar and proteins. Used for printing complex 3-D tissue cell models.
Previously there were people with 3D images of heart structures but no cells or blood vessels. Our results show that our approach is promising for future tissue and organ replacement techniques . "
At this stage, the 3D heart model built at TAU is only the size of a rabbit’s heart, but experts say the human heart can also be made using similar techniques.
According to Business Insider , fat tissue biopsy is taken from patients. Then, the cell and stem cells of tissue are separated. These cells are reprogrammed to become pluripotent stem cells, effectively separated into cardiac or endothelial cells. Extracellular matrix (ECM) - a network of three-dimensional extracellular macromolecules, such as collagen and glycoprotein - has been processed into hydrogels for use as " ink." The separated cells are then mixed with biological ink and used to print 3D heart patches that are compatible with the patient’s immune system with blood vessels and then the whole heart.
According to Dvir, the use of patients’ "root" materials is essential to successful tissue and organ organs in the human body.
The next step of the research is how to make an artificial heart act like the heart of a normal person. First, they will transplant their hearts into animals and eventually transplant them into patients. Dvir said optimistically: " Hopefully, within 10 years, we will have organ printers in the most prestigious hospitals in the world and this method will be carried out more often .
