Scientists have developed a bio-degradable material that may end the need for heart donors. The non-living material can act as a scaffold on which heart muscle can be grown from stem cells. Although the long-term goal has been to build organs from scratch to eliminate the need of donors, the new development will be able to mend hearts and help with heart defects in both younger and older patients.

The scientists have already been successful in growing layers of beating heart muscle from the stem cells of rats. These become embedded within the interconnected layers of the scaffold, where they start to mature into cardiac muscle. The biodegradable scaffold gradually breaks down over a few months and leaves no trace of it having been there.

Long term plans are to make a range of different scaffolds for different tissues that are in need of repair. It could be adapted to help with liver and kidney problems, as well as for mending blood vessels. This new development could eliminate the need of real donors, and is currently undergoing tests. Human trials are not due to take place until a later date. The implants are too thin to be used on humans at the moment, so researchers are working hard to make the grafts thicker.

Tags: defects, donor, heart, implants, muscle, patient, research, Science, Technology, tests

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