Cardiovascular disease is a massive burden on the healthcare system globally. To aid this situation, researchers in the UK have developed a new gel that can repair damage caused by a Heart attack. The researchers have been able to support the growth of heart muscles using biodegradable gel, hence providing new hope for another safe cardiovascular treatment.

Katharine King, a Ph.D. student, and a member of the research group stated that the gel is made of peptides, the building blocks of proteins. The bond between the peptides allows the gels to exist in different states i.e., under stress the peptides dissemble and behave like a fluid, hence making it easy to inject. She also added that the new gel can be safely injected into the beating heart to act as a scaffold for new cells to grow into muscle tissues. Katherine and her team claimed they were able to grow the tissues when they added human cells that have been reprogrammed to become heart muscle cells into the heart and after 3 weeks of the growth period, cells started to spontaneously beat in a normal cardiac rhythm.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) stated that the Gel, when injected with a fluorescent tag into the heart of healthy mice showed that the gel remained in the heart for 2 weeks. ECG and Electro cardiograms showed that the method was safe and the gel was able to support the growth of normal heart muscle tissues.

(Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/british-researchers-develop-gel-that-can-repair-damage-after-heart-attack-1959852-2022-06-08 )