Nanomaterials key to developing stronger artificial hearts

Jan. 31, 2013 ? ACS Nano published a study by Ali Khademhosseini, PhD, MASc, a researcher in the division of biomedical engineering at Brigham and Women's Hospital, detailing the creation of innovative cardiac patches that utilize nanotechnology to enhance the conductivity of materials to induce cardiac tissue formation.

Creation of these ultra-thin cardiac patches put medicine a step closer to durable, high-functioning artificial tissues that could be used to repair damaged hearts and other organs.

The cardiac tissue patches utilize a hydrogel scaffolding reinforced by nanomaterials called carbon nanotubes. To create the patches, the researchers seeded neonatal rat heart muscle tissue onto carbon nanotube-infused hydrogels. These novel patches showed excellent mechanical integrity and advanced electrophysiological functions. Moreover, they demonstrated a protective effect against chemicals toxic to heart tissue.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Brigham and Women's Hospital, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Su Ryon Shin, Sung Mi Jung, Momen Zalabany, Keekyoung Kim, Pinar Zorlutuna, Sang bok Kim, Mehdi Nikkhah, Masoud Khabiry, Mohamed Azize, Jing Kong, Kai-tak Wan, Tomas Palacios, Mehmet R Dokmeci, Hojae Bae, Xiaowu (Shirley) Tang, Ali Khademhosseini. Carbon-Nanotube-Embedded Hydrogel Sheets for Engineering Cardiac Constructs and Bioactuators. ACS Nano, 2013; : 130130092038000 DOI: 10.1021/nn305559j

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/heart_disease/~3/Guv9oknk3ZA/130131144448.htm

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