Bloomberg News, Jeanna Smialek
Nanofibers may help speed healing after heart attacks, preventing heart failure and improving quality of life, a study on rats and pigs suggests.
Scientists injected lattices made of the minuscule fibers alongside varying doses of a growth molecule called VEGF into animals’ heart tissue immediately after induced heart attacks. The fibers protected the growth treatment, helping the tissues to regenerate arteries and improving heart function almost a month later without harmful side effects, according to the study published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
“The results were quite promising,” said Karen Christman, a bioengineer at the University of California, San Diego (85090MF) and author of an article that accompanied the study. With development, the treatment could be used to enable people who would otherwise be bedridden to recover. “You could significantly improve quality of life,” she said. . .View Full Article
