 |
|
System to analyze beating heart stem cells could lead to heart attack treatments
July 30, 2007New research at the University of Nottingham, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), is paving the way for techniques that use stem cells to repair the damage caused by heart attacks.
The research, highlighted in the new issue of BBSRC Business, is looking at the process that turns a stem cell into a cardiomyocyte - the beating cell that makes up the heart. The Nottingham researchers are developing a new system to monitor cardiomyocytes in real time as they differentiate from stem cells into beating heart cells. The system uses electrophysiology to record the electrical properties in a cell and will be the first time it has been used to study cardiomyocyte cells in the UK.
The researchers hope that their research could provide more detailed information on the electrical activity of stem cell derived cardiomyocytes. In the longer term, this could facilitate their use in regenerating the damaged hearts of heart attack victims.
"Human embryonic stem cells promise unrivalled opportunities. However, they are difficult, time-consuming and expensive to grow in the lab", Dr Denning explains. "Our understanding of how to convert them into cardiomyocytes is poor. At the moment we only know how to produce a few million cardiomyocytes, but to treat just one heart attack patient, we may need one billion that all function in the correct way."
To help overcome the many challenges that stem cells bring, Dr Denning and his team plan to engineer a novel system for real-time analysis of cardiomyocytes during early development so their properties are better understood.
The team have already demonstrated that sufficient numbers of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes can be produced for detailed analysis and they plan to use new 'electrophysiology' systems to record changes in the cells when cultured. Electrophysiology is the study of cells' electrical properties and this is the first time that the method has been used in the UK to study stem cell-cardiomyocyte biology.
"This research will enable rapid development of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes as a tool for understanding the heart and its diseases," says Dr Denning. However, he cautions: "Before we can consider using stem cells to treat heart-attack patients there are many problems which will take many years to solve. We don't yet know how to deliver the cells to a patient's heart and prevent them being washed away so that they actually stay in the heart and both survive and function. It will take many years to overcome these challenges and put stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes into medical usage."
The researchers will also be monitoring how the cells respond to different pharmacological agents in order to improve drug-screening processes and reduce the need for animal testing.
"A key part of the project is to monitor the effects of different drugs on the cells. At present, only limited information is available on how they respond to pharmacological or gene modulating agents.
"Between 1990 and 2001, 8 different drugs were withdrawn from the market in the USA at an estimated cost of $8billion because they caused unexpected deaths in several hundred patients. Our aim is to reduce such occurrences by having better test methods to test the drugs before they reach the clinic.
"By studying the drugs' effects on the heart cells in the lab, this could reduce the need for animals in clinical trials."
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
"Human embryonic stem cells promise unrivalled opportunities. However, they are difficult, time-consuming and expensive to grow in the lab", Dr Denning explains. "Our understanding of how to convert them into cardiomyocytes is poor. At the moment we only know how to produce a few million cardiomyocytes, but to treat just one heart attack patient, we may need one billion that all function in the correct way."
To help overcome the many challenges that stem cells bring, Dr Denning and his team plan to engineer a novel system for real-time analysis of cardiomyocytes during early development so their properties are better understood.
The team have already demonstrated that sufficient numbers of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes can be produced for detailed analysis and they plan to use new 'electrophysiology' systems to record changes in the cells when cultured. Electrophysiology is the study of cells' electrical properties and this is the first time that the method has been used in the UK to study stem cell-cardiomyocyte biology.
"This research will enable rapid development of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes as a tool for understanding the heart and its diseases," says Dr Denning. However, he cautions: "Before we can consider using stem cells to treat heart-attack patients there are many problems which will take many years to solve. We don't yet know how to deliver the cells to a patient's heart and prevent them being washed away so that they actually stay in the heart and both survive and function. It will take many years to overcome these challenges and put stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes into medical usage."
The researchers will also be monitoring how the cells respond to different pharmacological agents in order to improve drug-screening processes and reduce the need for animal testing.
"A key part of the project is to monitor the effects of different drugs on the cells. At present, only limited information is available on how they respond to pharmacological or gene modulating agents.
"Between 1990 and 2001, 8 different drugs were withdrawn from the market in the USA at an estimated cost of $8billion because they caused unexpected deaths in several hundred patients. Our aim is to reduce such occurrences by having better test methods to test the drugs before they reach the clinic.
"By studying the drugs' effects on the heart cells in the lab, this could reduce the need for animals in clinical trials."
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Cardiomyocytes Current Events and Cardiomyocytes News RSSResearchers at UH Explore use of Fat Cells as Heart Attack Therapy
For those of us trained to read nutrition labels, conventional wisdom tells us that fat isn't good for the heart. But a team of University of Houston researchers has set out to use fat cells to beef up heart muscles damaged by heart attack - and they're using an out-of-this-world device to do it.
Study provides insight on a common heart rhythm disorder
University of Iowa researchers and colleagues in France have identified a gene variant that causes a potentially fatal human heart rhythm disorder called sinus node disease.
Cardiac cell transplant studies show promise in cardiac tissue repair
Two studies published in the current issue of CELL TRANSPLANTATION (17:6) examine the efficacy of transplanting bone marrow cells (BMCs) for the repair of heart tissue.
New source of heart stem cells discovered
Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston are continuing to document the heart's earliest origins. Now, they have pinpointed a new, previously unrecognized group of stem cells that give rise to cardiomyocytes, or heart muscle cells.
UCLA stem cell researchers create heart and blood cells from reprogrammed skin cells
Stem cell researchers at UCLA were able to grow functioning cardiac cells using mouse skin cells that had been reprogrammed into cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells.
Heart stem cell scientist to honor pioneering woman scientist in keynote speech
Professor Christine Mummery, one of the world's leading heart stem cell experts, will later today (9 April) honour the memory of Dame Anne McLaren in the keynote lecture of the inaugural UK National Stem Cell Network Science Meeting in Edinburgh.
Top 10 research advances include studies on genetics and stem cell research, stents
Several new studies on genetics and stem cell research, along with studies that continue to debate the use of stents to clear coronary artery blockages are among the top research advances in heart disease and stroke for 2007, said Daniel W. Jones, M.D., president of the American Heart Association.
Genes identified that protect against heart damage from chemotherapy
A series of genes that protect cells from the powerful, common chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin has been identified by researchers working to understand how the drug also can destroy the heart.
Human derived stem cells can repair rat hearts damaged by heart attack
When human heart muscle cells derived from embryonic stem cells are implanted into a rat after a heart attack, they can help rebuild the animal's heart muscle and improve function of the organ, scientists report in the September issue of Nature Biotechnology.
Geron Demonstrates hESC-derived cardiomyocytes improve heart function after myocardial infarction
Geron Corporation (Nasdaq: GERN) today reported its scientists and collaborators have demonstrated that human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived cardiomyocytes improve heart function when transplanted after myocardial infarction.
More Cardiomyocytes Current Events and Cardiomyocytes News Articles
| Effect of hawthorn (Crataegus oxycantha) crude extract and chromatographic fractions on multiple activities in a cultured cardiomyocyte assay.: An article ... Journal of Phytotherapy & Phytopharmacology by S.R. Long, R.A. Carey, K.M. Crofoot, P.J. Proteau, T.M. Filtz This digital document is an article from Phytomedicine: International Journal of Phytotherapy & Phytopharmacology, published by Thomson Gale on November 1, 2006. The length of the article is 4284 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view... | |
 | Effects of Extracellular Adenosine and ATP on Cardiomyocytes 225 pages, 25 figures, 4 tables,... |
| Isolated Adult Cardiomyocytes, Volume I by Hans Michael Piper, Gerrit Isenberg Written with contributions from experts who have critically evaluated the state of the art and the prospects of isolated adults cardiac myocytes in cardiological research, this two-volume publication summarizes the current knowledge of this technology. The methodology, structure, and metabolism of cardiomyocytes are presented, along with metabolism and cation homeostasis and energy metabolism and... | |
 | Reviews of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Vol. 157 (Reviews of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology) by S.G. Amara |
| © 2008 BrightSurf.com |