A new method allows for more advanced preclinical testing of drugs and cardiac therapies

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A new method allows for more advanced preclinical testing of drugs and cardiac therapies

Researchers at the University of Louisville have developed an easily reproducible system that allows them to keep slices of the human heart alive for a longer period of time, allowing for more extensive testing of new drugs and gene therapies.

This new biomimetic culture system mimics the environment of a living organ by continuous electrical stimulation and oxygenation, maintaining the viability and functionality of the heart segments for six days. Previous culture systems maintained functional cardiac units for up to 24 hours. Extending the viability period will improve preclinical testing on the efficacy and toxicity of new drugs.

"This new method allows fully functional human heart slices to be maintained for six days in the culture environment. This makes it easier to evaluate the effectiveness of heart failure and cardiotoxin treatments on human heart tissue without the need for a living human," said Tamer M. A. Mohamed, PhD, who led the research.

The system provides access to the complete 3D multicellular system that reflects the functional and structural state of a living person's heart.

"This system will save time and money on clinical trials during the first phase of research, which includes toxicity tests and evidence of efficacy," said Mohamed. "In addition to the drugs, we have demonstrated the effectiveness of the system in testing gene therapy."

The optimized environment to support slices of heart tissue is described in an article published online last week in Circulation Research, a publication of the American Heart Association. It will appear in the August 30, 2019 issue, in print and online. With Mohamed, the research was conducted by Qinghui Ou, B.Sc., Riham R.E. Abouleisa, PhD, and other UofL researchers, as well as colleagues in California, Colorado, the United Kingdom, Germany and Egypt. UofL has filed a provisional patent application for this technology.