A team of researchers has developed a simulation of the human heart that will be used to test drugs against cancer.
The heart chip, developed by researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, is made from human hiPSC stem cells and is capable of beating independently at about 60 beats per minute. Scientists will use it to test drugs, Science Alert writes.
“Ultimately, multilineage hiPSC-based systems, such as the heart chip presented here, may reduce the reliance on animal models traditionally used for preclinical drug cardiotoxicity testing,” the scientists state in the Lab on a Chip article.
By modeling the blood flow and mechanical movements of the heart in response to treatment with certain drugs, scientists can predict potential problems with their toxicity, causing arrhythmias or muscle cell death.
“The cardiac chip platform we have developed allows us to screen potentially cardiotoxic chemotherapeutic agents on many types of cardiovascular cells in a physiologically relevant model,” the researchers write.
In addition to helping to develop safer drugs, a heart on a chip can also provide scientists with insight into the intricacies of heart disease and how it starts and progresses. In addition, the development has been operating for a long time, and this allows scientists to assess how various environmental factors affect the heart.
