Heart cells grown from embryonic stem cells

Scientists in Israel have reported success in growing human heart cells in the laboratory. The researchers, based at the Technion Institute of Technology and Rambam Medical Centre, Haifa, say that their successful development of immature heart cells called cardiomyocytes from embryonic stem cells is the first of its kind.

The cardiomyocytes, which were identified in 10 percent of the cell cultures, were seen to be contracting - just as heart cells in early fetuses do. The researchers' next step is to increase the numbers of cells grown and to grow pure cultures cardiomyocytes.

When people have heart attacks, heart cells die and are replaced by scar tissue. Because the heart has no mechanism for self-repair, the reduced number of cells inhibits the function of the organ. If heart cells can be grown in culture in sufficient numbers, they could be grafted onto a damaged heart, thereby restoring lost function.

Meanwhile, other researchers at the same institutes in Israel reported their own success with embryonic stem cells, having grown the kind of pancreas cells which secrete insulin. The cell cultures could provide a treatment in the future for Type 1 diabetes in humans.