Scientists Grew a Heart

Stem Cell Research Leads British Scientists to Grow Part of a Human Heart

It could be possible that in ten years heart transplants will no longer be necessary. However the process in which that breakthrough would take could possibly mean agreeing to very controversial studies.

Stem cell research has led British scientists to have grown part of a human heart. Stem cells are primal cells common to all multi-cellular organisms that have the ability to renew themselves through cell division and can differentiate into a wide range of specialized cell types.

The world famous heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub led the research for this study and reported "It is an ambitious project but not impossible."

It was Yacoub who suggested that it would take about 10 years to perfect the study. "If you wanted me to guess, I'd say ten years," however added. "But, experience has shown that progress that is happening nowadays make it possible to achieve milestones in a shorter time. I wouldn't be surprised if it was sometime sooner than we think."

Transplants into animals are planned for later this year and will likely show how well the lab-grown tissue fares in the body. Later human trials would be in order.

One stem cell expert, Dr Stephen Minger, at Kings College in London is quite pleased with the research.

"If the valves they've engineered prove successful in experimental animals, this could open the door for generating complex tissues from stem cells for a wide variety of clinical applications. But this is very preliminary work and the direct translation to humans is still some way off."

A professor of the British Heart Foundation, John Martin, was reported as saying that the research opened up the possibility that whole parts of the heart could be made in the lab from a patient's own stem cells.

"Although the work carried out the Harefield is exciting, there is a long road to be traveled before patients awaiting heart transplants will benefit from this research." Martin added.

London doctors are going to start injecting heart attack patients with stem cells in bid to repair muscle damaged during an heart attack.