Bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego (USA) have shown in a study of pigs that a new injectable hydrogel can repair damage caused by heart attacks by helping to grow new tissue, blood vessels and heart. The results of the study, published in the “Science Translational Medicine” Journal, clear the way to begin clinical trials in Europe with the gel this year. The gel is injected through a catheter without surgery or general anesthesia, a procedure less invasive for the patient.

The lead researcher, Karen Christman, a professor in the Bioengineering Department at the Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California, said the gel forms a platform in the damaged areas of the heart, stimulating the growth of new cells and repair. The hydrogel is made of cardiac connective tissue that is stripped of muscle heart cells through a cleaning process, lyophilized and milled into powder form and is then liquefied in a fluid that can be easily injected into the heart.

The material is also biocompatible, since the hydrogel treated animals suffered no adverse effects such as inflammation, injury or arrhythmic heart beat on safety experiments performed as part of the study. Other tests with human blood samples showed that the gel had no effect on the clotting ability of the blood, which underlines the biocompatibility of treatment for use in humans.

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