Scientists Rebuild Heart With Stem Cells

Rats' cardiac tissue regenerated, halting progress of disease

(NEWSER) - Researchers are using human embryonic stem cells to regrow heart muscle and actually stop the progression of heart failure in rats. Although stems cells injected into rat heart tissue had previously been shown to become muscle tissue, very few had survived. Now a team from the University of Washington has succeeded in turning as many as half the cells into heart muscle, and keeping them alive. More»

Stem cells can mature into three different kinds of heart tissue

(NEWSER) - Researchers have found a cell that can become three different kinds of heart tissue, the Boston Globe reports. Harvard scientists hope that such “master” heart cells can be used to grow tissue so that researchers can perform experiments or test medications on human heart tissue, instead of animal substitutes. More»

(NEWSER) - A Japanese law prevents 11-year-old Hiroki Ando from receiving the heart he so desperately needs, CNN reports. Ando suffers from cardiomyopathy and will likely die—as his sister did 5 years ago—without a heart transplant. But the minimum age for organ donations in Japan is 15. "This stipulation has greatly reduced the possibility of transplants to small children," one activist group said. More»

Could be available for human transplants in three years

(NEWSER) - A British team has grown a human heart valve from stem cells—a breakthrough certain to ignite as much controversy as hope. Sir Magdi Yacoub, professor of cardiac surgery at Imperial College, tells the Guardian that growing a whole human heart from stem cells is less than a decade away: "I wouldn't be surprised if it was some day sooner than we think." More»