Northwestern Medicine scientists have developed a new way to measure heart contraction and electrical activity in engineered human heart tissues, according to findings published in Science Advances . For years, heart research has been limited by a lack of cell models and has relied on animal models to substitute for human hearts, said Elizabeth McNally, MD, Ph.D.
, the Elizabeth J. Ward Professor of Genetic Medicine, who was co-senior author of the study. "We need cells that actually beat and have electrical properties," said McNally, who also leads the Center for Genetic Medicine.
"We can collect blood cells from patients with genetic disease and turn them into stem cells in the dish. From these stem cells, we build three-dimensional engineered heart tissues that we can now carefully monitor. These models have many of the properties of human hearts.
" In the study, McNally and the collaborative team of clinicians, geneticists and bioengineers created human heart tissues in a dish using cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells gathered from patients with genetic heart conditions. Normally, these cells are cultured on flat dishes, but investigators grew the cells in rings to better mimic live human hearts. Next, scientists attached the engineered hearts to tiny, flexible sensors which recorded muscle and electrical activity in real time.
The sensors were developed in collaboration with John A. Rogers, Ph.D.
, the Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of M.
