Scientists grow heart organoids: a game-changer for pharmacotherapy

Scientists in Austria have successfully grown heart organoids, paving the way for advancements in medical therapies.

Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Biology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences have made significant achievements. They have successfully grown heart organoids, which are three-dimensional cell cultures resembling small tissue clumps to the naked eye. While it might seem like a feat of magic, these organoids can self-organize into structures that resemble the human heart.

The scientist team cultivated both heart chambers and the atrium separately, later connecting them to grow together. These connected organoids autonomously began to self-organize into a structure resembling a heart. The resulting construct mirrors a heart in its stage of in-utero development.

Researchers emphasized that these grown heart organoids have significant potential utility in toxicological and pharmacological research. They can help facilitate the development of specialized medications targeting specific areas of the heart.

Furthermore, heart organoids grown from the stem cells of individual patients could offer crucial insight into the origins and mechanisms of multiple diseases. This is especially important considering the high incidence of cardiovascular diseases, which are the leading cause of death worldwide.

Heart organoids have enabled researchers to analyze how fluctuations in gene expression within selected heart areas contribute to specific ventricular contraction patterns. The team also studied the communication between ventricles.