Miracle glue can 'patch' damaged tissue for people with heart attacks

A team at the University of Manchester and the British Heart Foundation have invented a special glue from amino acids that can deliver new cells directly into a damaged heart and help them multiply and grow. .

The glue will keep the cells in place as they proceed to regenerate heart tissue.

In research recently presented at the British Heart Association conference, the team of experts say they have added human cells - which are predetermined to become heart muscle cells - into the glue. and reared them in a lab dish for three weeks. Then they start beating naturally.

Historically, when cells were injected directly into the heart, only 1% stayed in place and survived.

But for new colloids, they can be injected into the heart as a liquid and then coagulate into a solid. The glue will keep the cells in place as they proceed to regenerate heart tissue.

When the team injected the glue into healthy mice, they found it kept in the hearts for up to two weeks. Procedures such as echocardiograms and electrocardiograms confirm the injection is safe.

Lead researcher Katharine King said: 'Although it is still in its early stages, this new technology has great potential in preventing heart failure. 

They now plan to test the treatment in mice shortly after a heart attack, to see if heart cells can grow new muscle tissue and help restore the heart's ability to pump blood.

Professor James Leiper, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, said: 'We have come a long way in our ability to treat heart attacks and more lives are being saved than ever before. Even so, it also means that many people are surviving with damaged hearts and are at risk of developing heart failure."

According to Leiper, if the cell injection technology is replicated in further studies and applied to humans, it will become one of the treatments for damage caused by heart attacks.