Polymer fibres to help heal hearts

TORONTO - Scientists are developing microscopic polymer fibres to help rebuild human tissue and heal hearts.

While using polymers to help grow muscles may sound like sci-fi, it’s actually quite natural, says Brian Amsden, chemical engineering professor at the Queen’s University.

Amsden, along with colleagues from the universities of Western Ontario and Toronto, is trying to develop the technique wherein stem cells from fat are placed on a polymer prosthetic that stimulates cell growth and that is later implanted into an individual’s body.

“I can’t think of anything Frankensteinish about that because everything is you. The only thing that isn’t you is the polymer which is biodegradable and eventually disappears, so all you have left is your own tissues,” says Amsden.

Tissue engineering was first proposed in mid-1980s and using polymers to help stimulate the process came about in the early 1990s so it’s a fairly new field, says a Queen’s University release.

Amsden is hoping that in about 10 years his procedure will help a tendon, spinal cord or heart valve regenerate itself after an injury or disease.

These findings were presented at the Advanced Foods and Materials Network annual conference in Halifax.