Injectable gel could safely repair damaged heart tissue

Therapies such as the hydrogel would be a welcome development, explained Karen Christman, a professor in the Department of Bioengineering at UC San Diego, since there are an estimated 785,000 new heart-attack cases in the US each year, with no established treatment for repairing damage to cardiac tissue.

According to a statement, 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 remodelling-type response, not a pro-inflammatory one in the damaged heart,’ said Christman.