Autonomously Swimming Biohybrid Fish Made From Human Cardiac Cells Reveals Secrets of Heart Physiology
An autonomously swimming biohybrid fish, designed to emphasize two crucial regulatory functions of the human heart, has shown the relevance of feedback mechanisms in muscle pumps (such as the heart). The discoveries can one day help inform the development of an artificial heart developed from living muscle cells.
Autonomously swimming biohybrid fish
Biohybrid systems– devices containing both biological and artificial components– are an efficient way to investigate the physiological control mechanisms in biological organisms and find bio-inspired robotic solutions to many pressing matters, including those related to human health. When it comes to natural fluid transportation pumps, like those that circulate blood, the performance of biohybrid systems has been lacking, nonetheless.
Here, scientists considered whether two functional regulatory functions of the heart– mechanoelectrical signaling and automaticity– could be transferred to a synthetic analog of another fluid transportation system: a swimming fish.
Lee et al. developed an autonomously swimming fish constructed from a bilayer of human cardiac cells; the muscular bilayer was incorporated utilizing tissue engineering techniques. Lee and the team controlled muscle contractions in the biohybrid fish utilizing external optogenetic stimulation, permitting the fish analog to swim.
In tests, the biohybrid fish surpassed the locomotory speed of previous biohybrid muscular systems, the authors state. It maintained spontaneous activity for 108 days. By contrast, state the authors, biohybrid fish equipped with single-layered muscle revealed deteriorating activity within the first month.
The data in this research demonstrate the potential of muscular bilayer systems and mechanoelectrical signaling as a way to promote maturation of in vitro muscle tissues, write Lee and colleagues.
” Taken together,” the authors conclude, “the technology explained here might represent foundational work toward the objective of producing autonomous systems capable of homeostatic regulation and adaptive behavioral control.”
Read the original article on Scitech Daily.
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