Full Text:
National Science Foundation-funded researchers have grown heart tissue by seeding a mix of human cells onto a 1 micron resolution scaffold made with a 3-D printer. The cells organized themselves in the scaffold to create engineered heart tissue that beats synchronously in culture. When the human-derived heart muscle patch was surgically placed onto a mouse heart after a heart attack, it significantly improved heart function and decreased the amount of dead heart tissue.
Image credit: Printed Scaffold, from Circulation Research article doi 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.116.310277, copyright American Heart Association
