Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Moscow Regional Clinical Research Institute have developed a new method for producing heart muscle cells from mesenchymal stem cells.
This approach opens new horizons for research in the field of regenerative medicine, according to the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education. A scientific study on this topic has been published in the journal Biomedicine.
Regenerative medicine is one of the most advanced trends in medicine, aiming to restore damaged or diseased tissues through cell transplantation or the use of stem cells capable of transforming into multiple cell types.
When stem cells are injected into a damaged organ or tissue, they can replace damaged or dead cells. In terms of origin, these cells can be, for example, embryonic stem cells, cells derived from embryos, or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The latter are obtained from other cells through reprogramming. This process is usually complex and expensive, but a new study by Russian scientists has shown the possibility of using a more efficient and less costly alternative.
In the study, researchers used mesenchymal stem cells to produce heart muscle cells, which under normal conditions can differentiate into bone, cartilage, or fat tissue. The researchers obtained the mesenchymal stem cells from red bone marrow samples taken from patients.
Red bone marrow is the tissue responsible for producing blood cells, where new blood cells are constantly being formed. Samples weighing between 1 and 2 grams were extracted during open-heart surgery, immediately after the chest was opened.
The researchers isolated stem cells from the samples and then placed them in a culture medium previously used to grow heart muscle cells obtained from other stem cells according to the standard protocol. Both cell types grew in the same medium, with calcium levels fluctuating synchronously between them.
This means that the intracellular calcium level begins to change rhythmically. Calcium plays a particularly important role in heart muscle cells; periodic increases in intracellular calcium ion concentration cause the cell to contract, while decreases cause it to relax. These recurring changes are known as calcium oscillations or calcium waves.
When these oscillations are synchronized, it means that the cells have begun emitting calcium waves at approximately the same time, indicating that they have begun to work in a coordinated manner, similar to cardiac tissue cells.
Although the mesenchymal stem cells began to transform in the desired direction, they did not complete the transformation process entirely.
However, researchers believe that the synchronized activity of these cells with heart muscle cells indicates the possibility of utilizing them in tissue repair, as well as the possibility of them becoming an important tool in research related to heart disease and regenerative medicine.
