A pioneering biomaterial that heals tissue from the inside out

A pioneering biomaterial that heals tissues from the inside out

A research team at the University of California revealed a new biomaterial that can be injected intravenously, reduces inflammation in tissues and promotes cell repair. This pioneering biomaterial has been tested; It has proven effective in treating tissue damage caused by heart attacks in both rodents and large animals alike. The researchers also provided evidence that this biomaterial could be beneficial for patients with traumatic brain injury and pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Karen Christman, professor ofbioengineeringat the University of California, San Diego, and the lead researcher on the team that developed the material, said: “This biomaterial allows damaged tissue to be treated from the inside out.” It is a new approach in tissue regeneration engineering.”

Christman added that a study on the safety and effectiveness of using this new biological material in humans could begin within one to two years. The team, which includes bioengineers and doctors, presented their findings in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.

A promising solution to a big problem

The world witnesses millions of heart attacks every year, and so far there is no proven treatment to repair the resulting damage to heart tissue. Because after a heart attack, the heart replaces other tissue - called scar tissue - with the damaged tissue, which leads to a buildup of tissue (fibrosis), reduced muscle function, and ultimately heart failure.

Dr. Ryan Reeves, a physician in the Cardiovascular Department at the University of California, said: “Coronary artery disease, acute myocardial infarction, and heart failure remain; The most burdensome and most influential public health problem in our society today. “As a cardiologist who treats patients with coronary artery disease and heart failure on a daily basis, I would like another treatment to improve patient outcomes and reduce debilitating side effects.”

In previous studies, the team, led by Christman, developed a type of hydrogel, made from natural carriers of heart muscle tissue, that can be injected into damaged heart muscle tissue via a catheter. To form a support in damaged areas of the heart, which stimulates cell repair and growth of new ones. In 2019, a report was issued on the results of a successful human clinical trial in the first phase, but given the necessity of injecting the gel directly into the heart muscle, it cannot be used until a week - or more - after a heart attack, as injecting it before this period may cause tissue damage.

So, the team wanted to develop a treatment that could be used immediately after a heart attack. This meant developing a biomaterial that could be delivered to the blood vessels in the heart, and was consistent with other treatments, such as: coronary angioplasty, stent, or intravenous infusion.

One advantage of the new biomaterial is that it is evenly distributed throughout the damaged tissue, because it can be injected directly or intravenously, whereas hydrogel injected via catheter is in specific sites and does not spread in the same way.

How is it made, and how does it work?

Researchers at the Christman Lab started with the hydrogel they developed, which was shown to be compatible with blood injections as part of a safety trial. But the problem was that the size of the particles in the hydrogel was too large to target the leaks in the blood vessels. This problem was solved by placing the liquid hydrogel material in a centrifuge, which allowed larger particles to be screened out, retaining only nano-sized particles. The resulting material was then placed in a scrubber, filtered and sterilized before being freeze-dried, whereby sterile water could then simply be added to the final powder of the biomaterial; It is then injected intravenously, or by pumping it into the coronary artery.

In the same context, the researchers tested the new biological material on cases of heart attacks in rodents, and they expected the material to pass through the blood vessels to the tissues. Given the development of gaps between endothelial cells in the blood vessels after a heart attack, but something else happened, which was the attachment of the biomaterial to these cells, which led to the filling of the gaps and accelerating the healing of the blood vessels. As a result, inflammation is reduced. The researchers conducted the same test on a model of heart attacks in pigs, and obtained similar results.

The team also successfully tested the hypothesis that the same biomaterial could help target other types of inflammation resulting from traumatic brain injury in mice and pulmonary arterial hypertension, and the Christman laboratory will conduct many studies before beginning clinical trials for these conditions.

Although most of the work in this study has focused on the heart, this new biomaterial has promising potential for treating other organs and tissues that are difficult to reach, and this will open the way for further research. In order totreat a large number of diseases.