The world's first 3D printed heart: blood and flesh will beat

A new technological breakthrough has the potential to make long and dangerous organ transplants a thing of the past.

 

On April 15th, Tel Aviv University of Israel published an article in the comprehensive science journal Advanced Science, announcing the successful use of human cells to create the world's first 3D printed heart.

 

Researcher at Tel Aviv University shows artificial heart at Tel Aviv University researcher showing artificial heart

 

This 3D printed artificial heart is about two centimeters long and is about the size of a rabbit's heart. It looks like a delicate little toy. However, this heart is a genuine version of the human heart, not only with heart cells, but also blood vessels and other supporting structures, and even beating like a real heart.

 

If there is a mini-person with a height of 30 cm in the world, this heart can theoretically support all its physiological activities.

The most important thing is that the "printing material" and "adhesive glue" of the heart are all derived from the patient's own human cells, and will not cause any rejection reaction during organ transplantation. Previously, all artificial organs were made of synthetic materials, or other materials that were not derived from patients.

 

The dawn of organ transplant surgery may really come.

 

Print a heart like a print model

 

3D printing human organs is not just about making a bunch of cells into a heart or kidney.

 

It looks really simple and it looks really simple

 

Although humans have mastered the techniques of artificially cultivating simple human tissues, it is still difficult to produce a heart that perfectly matches the immunological, cellular, biochemical, and anatomical properties of patients. Especially in the heart, the complex vascular network and the muscle tissue attached to it need to conform to the normal heart anatomy to ensure the normal functioning of the heart.

 

The development of 3D printing technology has made it possible to reconstruct the heart from scratch.

 

Whole heart print process whole heart print process

 

According to the paper published by the University of Tel Aviv (3D Printing of Personalized Thick and Perfusable Cardiac Patches and Hearts), the raw material for printing the heart comes from the omental tissue taken from the patient. The omental tissue is located outside the human internal organs and protects the internal organs like a mole.

 

After that, the omental tissue is separated into two parts, the cell and the matrix.

 

By reprogramming, the somatic cells separated in the omentum will return to the pluripotent stem cells that can differentiate. Under induction, pluripotent stem cells re-differentiate into cardiomyocytes that make up the heart of the heart and endothelial cells that make up the blood vessels.

 

The separated matrix is ​​processed into a hydrogel.

 

Printing process schematic printing process diagram

 

Next, cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells will be separately cultured in a hydrogel to form the printed material required for 3D printing.

 

In the figure below, we can clearly see the raw materials used for 3D printing. a is the retinal tissue just peeled off, and after the cells are completely separated, the omentum tissue leaves a matrix like the casserole in Figure b. Figure c is a hydrogel made of "Cook", which will act as a "bio-ink" in printing.

 

Be careful, big picture, cautious big picture

 

The final step is to model the patient's heart.

 

The modeling of the heart is very complex, both to reproduce the patient's own heart shape (after all, there are no two identical hearts in the world), but also to rely on imagination to make up the details.

 

After a CT scan of the patient's heart (Figure a), the scientists were able to identify the 3D structure and direction of the main blood vessels in the patient's ventricles (Figure b). After determining the large blood vessels, scholars can use CAD software to reproduce the size and geometry of the heart muscle attached to the blood vessels. However, since the CT scan cannot present images of small blood vessels, the mathematical model is used to calculate the blood oxygen concentration in the heart, and the smaller blood vessels are added to the basic vascular system design (Fig. d).

 

Since the cells and "adhesives" used throughout the printing process come from the patient itself, such an organ does not cause any rejection, and it is "ready to use" and safe.

 

The challenge still exists

 

The first 3D printed heart has been successful, but how far is it from the human heart?

 

The answer to this question cannot be determined by the researchers themselves.

 

 

Tal Dvir, a professor at the School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology at Tel Aviv University, said in a statement: "So far, our technology can only make miniature hearts, but the technology used to make human-sized hearts is the same. of."

 

In addition to size problems, the real heart should be able to connect to blood vessels and pump blood throughout the body. "Although this heart can contract, we haven't been able to connect it to blood vessels," Professor Dvir said. "The true heart should be able to integrate with the blood vessels and work autonomously."

 

The researchers said that in the next step, they will try to transplant the 3D printed heart to the animal.

 

 

However, what we can get from this technology is far more than just a heart transplant.

 

Using the same technology, the simpler organs and tissues of the bladder, ears, blood vessels, and trachea can be completely reproduced. For patients with locally damaged heart, a cardiac patch made with 3D printing technology can also be put on the agenda.

 

“Perhaps, within a decade, the best hospitals in the world will be equipped with organ printers, making organ and tissue printing a routine operation,” said Professor Dvir.