Researchers at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute have found a new way to grow blood vessels in damaged muscle tissue, a breakthrough that could one day allow the body to regenerate damaged tissue in a number of organs, including the heart.
The scientists developed a new biomaterial that, when injected into damaged muscle, acts as a scaffolding to allow new cells to grow.
A biomaterial is defined as a natural or man-made substance that is made from at least part of a living organism and either replaces or augments a natural function.
The biomaterial in this study is made up of a collagen protein and a molecule known as sialyl Lewis, which allows cells in the body to recognize each other.
For their study, researchers injected the biomaterial into thigh muscles of rats that were damaged by ischemia, a lack of oxygen and blood flow.
They found that the thigh muscles had more new blood vessels and improved function after just two weeks.
When injected into damaged muscle, the scaffolding attracts cells known as progenitor cells, which send signals to attract other cells to help them create new blood vessels.
To date, scientists had been unable to create a natural magnet, or a homing device, to attract cells for a long enough period of time for them to grow.
This new technique solves that problem by mimicking the body's natural blood-cell formation process.
"Our goal is to develop safe and effective treatments for coronary artery disease by helping the body rebuild blood vessels and improve heart function," Erik Suuronen, lead study investigator and a research scientist at the UOHI's cardiac surgery division, said in a statement. "We see this is a breakthrough that may also positively impact diseases such as diabetes, some disorders of the liver and chronic brain ischemia."
The findings are published online in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
This latest breakthrough is part of a relatively new field of research into what is known as regenerative medicine, which focuses on finding new approaches to reverse disease and damage in the human body.
Scientists around the world are studying the body's own processes for rebuilding tissue and then attempting to develop therapies that mimic this process.
Regenerative cell therapy has so far had limited success at restoring blood flow in a failing heart, the researchers said.
However, according to study investigator Dr. Marc Ruel, "using cell therapy to rebuild blood vessels in and around the heart is proving to be the next frontier in cardiac medicine. This landmark development clearly represents a major step forward in adding to our ability to cure heart failure."
