In Taiwan, more than 40,000 people are equipped with pacemakers, and now scientists have discovered a biomaterial made from silk that can convert heart muscle cells that would otherwise not discharge electricity into heart rhythm cells that can beat themselves, allowing the heart to resume beating. This major discovery has changed the way people think about the treatment of arrhythmias and has led to a study from Taiwan that was featured in the top international journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.
The heartbeat of about 60-100 beats per minute comes from the discharge of the sinoatrial node of the pacemaker, a spontaneous electric current that allows the heart's muscles to contract and pump blood throughout the body. However, as we age, the organ always wears out over time. Because of the aging failure of the pacemaker rhythm cells, a slow heartbeat may occur, such as sinus syndrome and atrioventricular conduction block, resulting in weakness, difficulty breathing, fainting, and even sudden death, with a prevalence of about 1% to 2%. The prevalence rate is about 1% to 2%. This figure may be higher in elderly people over 65 years old.
The current treatment for this heart-borne disease is a two-hour surgery to install a pacemaker in the body. However, the pacemaker requires battery replacement in about 6 to 8 years, invasive surgery also has the risk of surgical infection, and even in the era of the prevalence of cell phones, such installation of electronic pacemaker patients must also be as far away from the heart as possible, so scientists invariably hope to find alternative methods.
The research team, led by Professor Zhong Jiwen of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Yang Ming Jiaotong University and Dr. Yu-Feng Hu of the Department of Cardiology at the Taipei General Hospital, successfully used silk from a modified farm in Miaoli, Taiwan, to purify silk protein gel, which was injected into the hearts of mice to convert heart muscle cells that would otherwise not beat into pacemaker rhythm cells that could discharge electricity. This is the first time that silk proteins have been used as surgical sutures and artificial dressings, but this is the first time that silk proteins have been found to have mechanical and biochemical properties, as well as cellular transformation and bioelectricity production.
In animal studies, the research team found that silk proteins can be used as biomaterials to initiate the ectopic expression of calcium mucin in cardiac muscle cells, initiating a series of downstream mechanisms that allow the heart to be recharged and restored. In other words, the research team has re-generated the cells that discharge electricity from the heart. In this way, once the sinus node ages or becomes diseased, the newly generated cells can take over the important role of discharging electricity to keep the heart beating.
The company's main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers.
The research team tried dozens of biomaterials and finally found a way to use silk protein, said Professor Zhong Jiwen of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Yang Ming Jiaotong University. He said that silk protein is highly biocompatible as a biomaterial, in fact, there are signs, including artificial skin, surgical sutures, wound dressings can be found in its trace. He has also used the same material to make myocardial patches to repair heart muscle cells, showing that domestic silk has the potential for advanced medical applications.
Dr. Yu-Feng Hu and Professor Chung met at a conference four years ago, sparking this collaboration. Dr. Yu-Feng Hu describes how he found that the heart muscle cells "came to life" and kept beating when he incubated them on Chung's silk proteins, and began the research to find out why.
The study was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, a division of Nature, and proved that in addition to stem cell culture and gene therapy, biomaterials also have the potential to treat heart-borne diseases.
Source: Silkworm protein restores a heart that has stopped beating, and a team at NYCU successfully uses biomaterials to convert heart muscle cells into rhythm cells - NYCU