Now, ‘Smart Scaffold’ to Help Heart Heal Itself

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New treatments are being developed that heal broken hearts or muscle loss by prompting the body to repair damaged tissues.

Canadian researchers, for the first time, have developed an organic substance (scaffold) that attracts and supports cells necessary for tissue repair and can be directly injected into problem areas.

This development is a major step toward treatments that allow people to more fully recover from injury and disease rather than having to live with chronic health problems. It may even help reduce the need for organ transplantation by allowing physicians to save organs that would have been previously damaged beyond repair.

These “smart scaffolds”, developed by Erik Suuronen from the University of Ottawa and Ottawa Heart Research Institute, contain a protein that allows progenitor cells to adhere to the damaged tissue and survive long enough to promote healing. These cells emit homing signals that summon other cells to join in the process and give off chemical signals that order cells to grow blood vessels necessary for healing to occur.

“Ultimately, we envision a scaffold material that can be taken off the shelf and injected into the hearts of patients suffering from blocked arteries,” he said. “The scaffold materials would direct the repair process, and restore blood flow and function to the heart

Sources: The Times Of India