Heart valve grown from amniotic stem cells
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Stem cells extracted from amniotic fluid can be induced to grow on a polymer scaffold into a fully functional human heart valve that will open and close like a native valve, Swiss researchers report. The process may eventually find application in infants with damaged heart valves.
At the American Heart Association’s 2006 Scientific Sessions, Dr. Simon P. Hoerstrup of University Hospital of Zurich described his group’s findings from experiments with amniotic fluid-derived stem cells seeded onto leaflet-shaped biodegradable scaffolds.
The engineered valves were then grown, and conditioned with a pulsatile flow to mimic the forces imposed by the circulation of blood through the heart.
The valves show little regurgitation on testing, Hoerstrup said. “There is a very nice opening and closing of the valve.”
“A substantial group of newborns have bad heart valves, and about one-third of those need surgery,” he said. “With the relatively safe method of amniocentesis, we can extract stem cells…They can be prenatally fabricated such that they are ready (for implantation) at the time of the infant’s birth,” Hoerstrup said.
Because the cells come from the infant, they will not be rejected, and in theory they will grow with the child.
Now that proof of the concept has been established, the researcher concluded, preliminary studies in animals and humans can be planned.
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