Scientists hope this injectable stem cell gel can repair heart attack damage and avoid transplants

euronews.com:

Researchers in the UK have developed a biodegradable hydrogel that could help repair the damage caused by heart attacks.

The gel is used as a binding agent to inject stem cells into the heart. These cells can then regenerate and rebuild areas where the tissue is damaged.

So far, the gel has only been tested in healthy mice. But scientists at the University of Manchester say it’s showing promising results and they hope it can become a key part of future regenerative treatments.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Lancet Burden of Disease, over nine million people each year die from coronary heart disease, the most common cause of heart failure, despite significant advances in heart surgery.

During a heart attack, blood and oxygen are cut off from the heart, which can cause muscle cells to die. Depending on the severity of the damage, patients can require a heart transplant - a complicated, invasive, and risky procedure.

The team at the University of Manchester is hoping the new gel technology can ultimately improve regenerative treatments and avoid heart transplants altogether.

Stem cell surgery has already been widely used to generate tissue. In Switzerland, surgeons have grown stem cells into cartilage and transplanted them into damaged knees.

However, successes with the heart have been more elusive. In the past, surgeons have tried to inject stem cells directly into the heart, but the cells have not survived.

"The challenges in injecting these cells into a beating heart is that the heart is a mechanical structure and that the cells, if they're injected alone, find it very difficult to find an anchor,” said Professor James Leiper, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, which funded the