Engineered cardiac muscle cells made from neonatal rat cardiomyocytes provide a promising model for cardiovascular disease, but are only useful to the extent that they recapitulate function on the level of cardiac tissue in order for them to have in vivo relevance.  HSCI Principal Faculty member Kevin Kit Parker and colleagues recently described a method to measure the contractility of engineered muscle cultured on synthetic polymer thin films in response to electrical or pharmacological stimulation. The results they measured in engineered tissue were comparable to those in non-engineered tissue, suggesting that the engineered tissue may provide a relevant model system for testing the safety and effectiveness of drugs on cardiovascular tissue. The ability to perform these types of studies has important implications for being able to eliminate potentially harmful drugs from consideration before embarking on risky and costly clinical trials.

Alford, P.W., Feinberg, A.W., Sheehy, S.P., Parker, K.K. (2010). Biohybrid thin films for measuring contractility in engineered cardiovascular muscle. Biomaterials. Feb 8. [Epub ahead of print].