What happened after the first 3D printed heart came out?

I remember that in April last year, researchers at Tel Aviv University successfully “printed” the world’s first 3D vascularized heart using the patient’s own cells and biomaterials. It was also the first time someone designed and printed a heart full of cells, blood vessels and ventricles. Complete heart.After a year, now the world3D printingTo what extent has the heart developed?

Unlike other organs, the heart can function only because of its large size, a wide variety of cells, and the need for autonomous beating.even if3D printingTechnology has been developed for many years, and there is no shortage of medical fields such as craniofacial surgery, orthopedics, stomatology, etc.3D printingToday in the case of prosthesis implantation, I want to3D printingA heart that matches the cytology, biochemistry, and anatomy of the patient is still very difficult.

3D printingWhere is the heart?

3D printingThe heart is more than just stacking a bunch of cells into a heart. First of all, we know that the heart beating neatly requires close connections between the cells of the heart, and the existence of the earth’s gravity directly or indirectly causes all these conditions to be impossible.Because the heart cannot beat neatly, resulting in3D printingThe heart that comes out cannot pump blood.

Not only that, but with other3D printingThe commonly used laser or heat is different, due to biological3D printingCells are used. In order to ensure the viability of the cells, there is no light and heat.biology3D printingAccording to different cell growth environments, printing parameters need to be set to accurately control the density of cells in the biological material, the position of growth factors in the overall 3D structure and the related effects, in order to make the printed tissues biologically active.

In addition, the heart is more complicated than ordinary organs-beating. The cardiomyocytes are tightly connected together, and the electrical signals generated by the cells will cause a large number of cardiomyocytes to contract together. In order to coordinate the coordinated contraction of the two atria and the two ventricles, the heart itself has a special conduction system.Although it is not difficult to produce tens of millions of cardiomyocytes in vitro, even if the heart is3D printingIt’s one thing whether you can jump when you come out, but another thing about how to jump.

As far as clinical symptoms are concerned, ventricular fibrillation is caused by the failure of myocardial cells to beat synchronously. Once they lose “synchronization”, the various cells beating one after another will cause the heart to instantly lose its pumping function, leading to death of the patient. Therefore, if the heart’s pumping function is to be achieved, the heart must beat very neatly.

Whether the printed heart can beat neatly is actually related to the gravity of the earth.3D printingThe adhesion force is not enough to support large organs such as the heart or kidney, which will cause tearing between cells under the influence of gravity.Therefore, biological3D printingThe core problem is how to solve the problem of biological materials and the earth’s gravity.3D printingThe influence of cells.

worldwide3D printingHow far has the heart reached?

Although there has not yet been a successful transplantation complete3D bioprintingThe case of the heart, but does not affect biomedical companies and scientific research groups to fully functional3D printingThe heart moves forward.Here we have also compiled for you some of the most promising recently3D printingHeart project.

The miniature heart of Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University, as we mentioned at the beginning, its School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology has successfully produced the world’s first cell, blood vessel, and other supporting structure, which can even contract like a heart.3D printingheart.Although the length of this heart is only 2.5 cm, it is the first time that human cells have been used to fully vascularize3D printingThe human heart is a crucial step towards bioprinting of functional human organs.

The technical principle is to extract human cells from the adipose tissue of the experimenter, then transform them into stem cells, and then differentiate the cells into various types of heart cells in the heart. These new “heart” cells are mixed with inorganic materials to produce Into bio-ink, and finally3D printing.

Because the patient’s own cells are used, it can completely eliminate rejection of new bioengineered organs. You should know that rejection is a major problem in organ transplantation. Many patients undergoing heart transplantation will experience rejection symptoms within the first year after the operation.With this success, the next challenge for the research team is to mature these differentiated cells and make them perform their expected functions. It is hoped that within 10 years, the best hospitals in the world will be equipped with organs.3D printingIt can provide services to patients normally.

WFIRM’s bioengineered heart tissue

Dr. Anthony Atala, Director of WFIRM, at3D bioprintingThe field is very famous. A few years ago, his team engineered and transplanted the bladder into living patients. Up to now, the institute has developed more than 30 different tissues and organs.

In April 2018, the WFIRM team published a paper describing the team’s use of rat heart cells3D bioprintingFunctional and contractile heart tissue. These cells are suspended in bio-ink and printed into a structure similar to human heart tissue, and can test the effects of hormones such as epinephrine and carbachol, just like in living organisms, which leads to printed heart tissue The expected change in the heart rate.

At the beginning of this year, WFIRM announced the creation of a miniature human “model” containing different bioengineered human tissues that will be used exclusively for drug testing. The tiny organoid structure is about one millionth the size of an adult and includes tiny heart tissue. Dr. Atala said that one of the most important functions of the miniature human laboratory model is to determine whether a drug is toxic to humans in the early stages of development, which has a huge impact on experimental drug testing.

Biolife4D Mini Heart

Biolife4D’s headquarter is located in Chicago, and its goal is to use bioengineering and3D printingTechnology to make a human heart that can be transplanted. In 2018, they successfully demonstrated the biosignature of a patch of human heart tissue, which means that the tissue has blood flow and can contract like a real heart. These heart tissue patches can be used to restore damaged parts of the heart in patients with acute heart failure.

To produce these patches, they used MRI machines to obtain a 3D digital model of the patient’s heart, and used the patient’s own heart cells to combine nutrients and other biological materials to create bio-ink.Finally, the organization patch goes through3D printingAnd mature in the bioreactor until it can be transplanted.

Last September, the company also announced another major breakthrough, namely the mini heart shape3D printingThe machine, made of bio-ink with the characteristics of the human heart, replicates many characteristics of the human heart. Biolife4D has also improved its bioprinting algorithm, specifically for the heart3D printingOptimized. Biolife4D said that with this new milestone, only need to optimize the process and expand the scope of technology to achieve “successful transplantation of full-scale,3D printingFunctional heart” is the ultimate goal.

ETH&SAT’s artificial heart valve

In 2017, a group of researchers from the Swiss Technical University ETH Zurich published a paper describing their use of silicone3D printingThe functional beating heart, regardless of size or function, is roughly the same as the human heart. Their work proves that we are rapidly realizing the ability to replace the heart without a transplant.

This type of silicone printing body has left and right ventricles and a chamber driven by compressed air for pumping action. The main limitation is3D printingHis heart can only last about 30 minutes or 3000 beats, and then the material will degrade and weaken.By 2019, the research team and the South African company Strait Access Technologies developed an artificial3D printingHeart valves can replace leaky or damaged valves in real patients.These parts are made with materials compatible with the body3D printing, And provide the same blood flow function as the conventional replacement valve.

For the successful cases of artificial heart valves used for transplantation, the artificial heart valves developed by ETH&SAT can be customized for each patient.Thanks to MRI and CT imaging, each valve can be specially designed to achieve completebeautifulCooperate.

In fact, a large number of patients die each year while waiting for a heart transplant.Even if the transplantation is successful, there will be rejection reactions within a few years after surgery, causing postoperative syndromes, and these are our research3D printingThe significance of the heart is to save more patients and overcome the problem of organ transplant rejection.

(Editor in charge: admin)