Silk has been well known for its use in clothing material, since times immemorial. However, recently, scientists at Max Planck, Germany, have also found its application in growing replacement tissue for damaged hearts. This, indeed, marks a very big leap in science and technology!

Max Planck researchers have successfully loaded cardiac muscle cells onto a 3D scaffold (framework), created using the Tasar silk produced by a tropical silkworm. The human heart is one of the most primed body organs, for performance and efficiency. Also, it is delicate and once damaged, cannot be regenerated; as damaged cardiac muscle cells are replaced by scar tissue.

In their attempt to develop a treatment for the repair of damaged cardiac tissue, these scientists aimed to grow replacement tissue in their laboratory. Felix Engel, who led the research at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Germany, said, “Whether natural or artificial in origin, all of the tested fibres had serious disadvantages. They were either too brittle, were attacked by the immune system or did not enable the heart muscle cells to adhere correctly to the fibres.” Another scientist of the same laboratory, Chinmoy Patra, added that the advantages of using fibres produced by the tasar silkworm, over other substances that were tested. He said, “The surface (of the fibre) has protein structures that facilitate the adhesion of heart muscle cells. It’s also coarser than other silk fibres. This is the reason why the muscle cells grow well on it and can form a 3D tissue structure.”

However, coming to the clinical application of the fibre, Felix Engel commented that although the communication between the cells was intact and they could beat synchronously over a period of 20 days, just like real heart muscle; utilizing the fibre clinically is yet far away. He suggested that once these findings are extrapolated on human cardiac cells, their clinical application could be gradually realized.

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