Researchers Develop Heart Chamber On Chip

This new heart chamber chip can beat using contraction of the cardiac tissues and as per the study this device could help to get better understanding of cardiac disease in future.

A new heart chamber chip has been developed by researchers at Boston University. This technology has been named as miniaturized Precision-enabled Unidirectional Microfluidic Pump (miniPUMP). The chip is of the size of a postage stamp.

This chip can beat on its own and it works with the help of cardiomyocytes. These cardiomyocytes are generated from the pluripotent stem cells and acrylic valves. These valves help in the movement of the fluid pumped by the chamber. The researchers added a thin acrylic scaffold in this new device to support and mimic the mechanical properties of the heart. Very fine amount of acrylic is used in developing this device, as it can be very stiff if used in a larger proportion. The cardiomyocytes can compress the acrylic scaffold while beating.

The researchers created small components of the device using two-photo direct laser writing technique. In this technology, a small beam of light is used to convert the liquid resin into small solid structures. This technology has paved way for developing new devices for studying and understanding other organs. Creating mimics in the lab has been a major challenge in this study.

Researchers involved with this study revealed that they used nanotechnology along with tissue engineering. This mechanism can be used to replicate multiple organs. They also mentioned that the complexity of this mechanism is the main reason for selecting heart tissue to work on, in this study.

This technology will provide a better understanding of cardiac diseases and also assist in finding new treatments for heart diseases. This heart chamber chip can also be used in drug screening. The researchers planned to use this technology for developing personalized cardiac care for patients. They will obtain cells form patients and investigate them for further treatment.