Researchers at the University of California San Diego created a new biomaterial that can be injected intravenously and has been shown to reduce tissue inflammation while promoting cell and tissue repair. In rodent and large animal models, the biomaterial effectively treats tissue damage caused by heart attacks.
According to lead researcher Karen Christman, this is a novel approach to regenerative engineering. Research on the biomaterial’s safety and efficacy in human subjects could begin within one to two years. The bioengineers’ and physicians’ findings were published in the December 29 issue of Nature Biomedical Engineering.
The biomaterial is significant because there is no established treatment for repairing cardiac tissue damage caused by heart attacks, which affect an estimated 785,000 new cases in the United States each year. The material, which can be infused into a blood vessel in the heart or injected intravenously, forms a scaffold in damaged areas of the heart, encouraging new cell growth and repair.
The biomaterial is created by starting with a hydrogel compatible with blood injections and then filtering out larger particles while retaining only nano-sized particles using a centrifuge and dialysis. The resulting material can be injected intravenously or infused into the heart’s coronary artery.
The biomaterial was tested on a rodent model of heart attack, closing gaps between endothelial cells in blood vessels and accelerating blood vessel healing while decreasing inflammation. In rat models of traumatic brain injury and pulmonary arterial hypertension, the team also successfully tested the hypothesis that the same biomaterial could help target other types of inflammation.
The lead researcher and the startup she cofounded intend to apply to the FDA for permission to conduct a human study of the new biomaterial’s applications for heart conditions.
References
Patringenaru, I. (2023, January 30). This Injectable Biomaterial Heals Tissues From the Inside Out. UC San Diego Today; University of California San Diego. https://today.ucsd.edu/story/this-groundbreaking-biomaterial-heals-tissues-from-the-inside-out
Spang, M. T., Middleton, R., Diaz, M., Hunter, J., Mesfin, J., Banka, A., Sullivan, H., Wang, R., Lazerson, T. S., Bhatia, S., Corbitt, J., D’Elia, G., Sandoval-Gomez, G., Kandell, R., Vratsanos, M. A., Gnanasekaran, K., Kato, T., Igata, S., Luo, C., … Christman, K. L. (2022). Intravascularly infused extracellular matrix as a biomaterial for targeting and treating inflamed tissues. Nature Biomedical Engineering, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-022-00964-5
