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Heart research benefits from projects managed by Marshall’s Microgravity Program
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| Scientists first described beating in isolated heart cells in 1910. Over the years, numerous researchers have shown that certain types of cardiac cells beat in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional cultures. In 1993, scientists used NASA Bioreactors to grow the first beating cardiac cells that were organized like tissues and beat directionally. Later, it was found that bioreactor-derived tissue constructs responded to cardiac drugs in the same way as the intact heart. The video shows four small pieces of beating heart tissue that were grown in a ground-based NASA Bioreactor. The tissues grow on threads of naturally occurring polymer, and the tissue constructs contract down the long axis of the thread. The ones that are deflecting to one side do so because that side is beating more strongly than the other. (Illust. credit: Dr. Robert Akins, A.I. duPont Hospital for Children) | |
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Video courtesy of Dr. Robert Akins, A.I. duPont Hospital for Children. For copies of this video file, contact Steve Roy in Marshall Space Flight Center's Media Relations Department at (256) 544-0034. |
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