Researchers have developed a functioning artificial human heart muscle large enough to patch over damage typically seen in patients who have suffered a heart attack. The heart patch developed by biomedical engineers at Duke University in the US takes a major step toward the goal of repairing dead heart muscle in human patients. It must also be just as strong and electrically active as the native heart tissue, or else the discrepancy could cause improper beating of the heart. The cells for the heart patch were grown from human pluripotent stem cells -- the cells that can become any type of cell in the body. Tests showed that the heart muscle in the patch was fully functional, with electrical, mechanical and structural properties that resemble those of a normal, healthy adult heart.

Source: Hindustan Times November 29, 2017 09:33 UTC