In their quest to understand how the human heart works and develops in the womb, scientists exposed some stem cells to a suite of proteins and small molecules that were known to be involved in early human heart development. After a week of observing, the scientists noticed something amazing.
The cells sorted themselves into hollow, chamber-like structures, analogous to the left ventricle of the heart, the team found. What's more, the walls of the chambers began to contract rhythmically, mimicking a human heartbeat.
[...]
"This work is significant in the sense that they started from embryonic bodies," meaning 3D clumps of pluripotent stem cells, a type of stem cell that can give rise to many cell types, said Ying Mei, an associate professor of bioengineering at Clemson University, who was not involved in the research. In particular, the team managed to coax the cells into a hollow chamber structure — something that hasn't been done before with embryonic bodies, Mei said.
The findings of their study (which was published on May 20 in the journal Cell) could prove to be useful in studies about cardiogenesis and heart conditions.
More about this over at Live Science.
(Image Credit: JB_Bandit/ Pixabay)
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thats tiny
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