Injectable gel could safely repair damaged heart tissue
Researchers from the University of California (UC) San Diego have developed an injectable hydrogel that could be an effective and safe treatment for tissue damage caused by heart attacks.

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.
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