Heart diseases are the leading cause of death in the United States killing more than 600,000 people a year. A team of researchers at the University of Minnesota has 3D printed a functioning human heart pump in the lab, which could help save the lives of thousands of patients.
According to the Science Daily website, the researchers used a type of stem cells with the potential to develop into any type of cell in the body, in addition to a mix of proteins, and the printer's ink.
The heart muscle model is about 1.5 centimeters long and was specifically designed to fit into the abdominal cavity of a mouse for further study, the German News Agency reported.
The team said the new muscle can be used to study the functions of the heart, and the problems that might affect it.
Brenda Ogle from the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the University of Minnesota College, said this is a critical advance in heart research because this new study shows how we were able to 3D print heart muscle cells in a way that the cells could organize and work together.
"We now have a model to track and trace what is happening at the cell and molecular level. We can introduce disease and damage into the model and then study the effects of medicines and other therapeutics," she explained.
