Cardiac patches are increasingly deployed to repair tissue that has been damaged by a heart attack. Many of these devices embed living cells in scaffolds, which increases the potential risk for triggering irregular heartbeat patterns or an immune response. A safer alternative has been designed by researchers from University of North An artificial cardiac patch promotes cardiac repair after injury. Source: North Carolina State UniversityCarolina and North Carolina State University in the form of an off-the-shelf therapeutic cardiac patch without living cellular material.

The patch is composed of a decellularized porcine cardiac tissue scaffold encasing synthetic cardiac stromal cells derived from a biodegradable polymer and cardiac stromal cell-derived repair factors. The material offers the therapeutic benefits associated with viable cells but in an artificial form.

When tested in a rat model of a heart attack, the artificial patch boosted cardiac function by around 50% over a three-week period compared to no treatment and reduced scarring by about 30%. The patch also reduced scarring by around 30% and stabilized heart function in a seven-day study of a pig model.

Storage of patches with live cells is not practical as the devices must be freshly prepared to maintain cell viability. However, long-term storage was shown to be feasible with the artificial patch; devices frozen for 30 days maintained their potency.