Heart in spinach

Human heart muscle cells were grown in spinach leaves

marks, Geektimes

Doctors, when performing some heart operations, require living tissue of the heart muscle. It is not so easy to get it. There are two ways out here – either to find a donor, or to grow the muscular tissue of the heart muscle yourself. This process is very difficult and expensive. As a result, living heart tissues are always in short supply. To solve the problem, as it turned out, you can use spinach leaves.

Purification of the cellulose base of the leaf from the cells and tissues of the plant

Scientists from Worcester Polytechnic Institute proposed using the cellulose matrix of the leaf as a basis for growing tissue, the cells of which are supplied with oxygen and nutrients. To do this, the capillaries of the leaves themselves are used, through which a liquid similar in composition to blood is passed. Thus, scientists can grow quite large areas of living tissue, which is immediately ready for transplantation.

Vessels in mouse heart tissues and capillaries of David's budlea leaves

Specialists from different fields took part in the project. To implement the idea, the team of Worcester Polytechnic Institute was joined by scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Arkansas State University. The scientists presented the results of their work in an article published online (Gershlak et al., Crossing kingdoms: Using decellularized plants as perfectable tissue engineering scaffolds).

This study is interesting because plants and animals have radically different systems of transport of nutrients, liquids and macromolecules. However, there are several similar points in the principles of the cardiovascular system of animals and the capillary system of plants. Thanks to this, the implementation of the scientists' project became possible. "The use of cell–free plant skeletons opens up opportunities for research at the junction of different scientific directions to study the similarity of plants and animals," the scientists report in their work.

In a series of experiments, scientists have grown living human heart tissue cells on spinach leaves, from which the cells were removed. Liquid similar in characteristics to human blood was passed through the capillaries of the leaf frame. Cardiac tissue cells were placed along capillaries with circulating physiological fluid, which supplied nutrients and oxygen to the cells. As a result, the cells not only did not die, but also continued to develop. According to the authors of the study, this opens up the possibility of growing whole layers of heart muscle tissue. Such samples can be used during heart surgery in people affected by a heart attack.

Now scientists are planning to conduct similar experiments with the leaves of other plants. "We still have a lot of work to do, although these results are very promising," says Glenn Gaudette, professor of biomedical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (see the WPI Team Grows Heart Tissue on Spinach Leaves press release). From the start of the project, it was decided to attract specialists from other fields of science and medicine to participate in it. So, the team now includes a specialist in molecular mechanisms of human cell growth and development, a specialist in biomedical engineering, a specialist in stem cells and plant cells. "In this project, the importance of interdisciplinary research has become clear to us. When you have people with different experience and knowledge, they can offer a solution to the problem by looking at the problem itself from a slightly different perspective," says Gaudette.

Graduate student Joshua Gershlak took part in a series of experiments, who suggested using spinach leaves. The central vein of the leaf seemed to him similar to the aorta, so it was the personal impression that played an important role.

In order for a plant leaf to be used for growing animal and human tissue cells, it must be deprived of native cells and all components except cellulose. The cellulose base became the basis for cell growth. "Cellulose is biocompatible and is used in many areas of regenerative medicine, including the treatment of severe tissue and bone damage," the study participants say.

In addition to spinach, scientists also cleaned parsley leaves, annual wormwood and peanut roots from cells. But spinach still showed the best results. Its leaves are large, strong, and the useful area of the cellulose base remaining after purification is quite enough for growing tissues.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  29.03.2017