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Space to Heal: How Microgravity is Changing Heart Disease Treatment

by Naina Bhargava on Mar 31 2025 11:11 AM
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Space-based studies are exploring how microgravity can enhance cardiac cell regeneration to improve heart disease treatments.

Space to Heal: How Microgravity is Changing Heart Disease Treatment
Heart disease continues to be the top cause of death in the United States, responsible for one in every five deaths. The challenge in treating heart disease lies in the heart muscle's inability to regenerate, leaving patients with end-stage heart failure to face long waiting lists for heart transplants. In an effort to offer an alternative, researchers from Emory University are exploring new solutions by conducting their studies in a unique laboratory—the International Space Station (ISS) (1 Trusted Source
Studying Cardiac Cells in Space to Repair Heart Damage on Earth

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Chunhui Xu and her team leveraged the ISS National Laboratory® for cardiac cell research to accelerate the development of cell-based regenerative therapies that could one day reverse heart damage. Results from these studies have led to multiple peer-reviewed publications, including findings recently published in the high-impact journal Biomaterials.

Microgravity's Effect on Cells: Proliferation and Survival

It all began with an eye-opening seminar on science in space and a surprising observation about cancer cells during spaceflight. Researchers found that exposure to microgravity the condition of perceived weightlessness created when an object is in free fall, for example when an object is in orbital motion. Microgravity alters many observable phenomena within the physical and life sciences, allowing scientists to study things in ways not possible on Earth. The International Space Station provides access to a persistent microgravity environment. increased cancer cell proliferation and survival. Xu hypothesized that heart cells might exhibit similar behavior, which would address two current roadblocks in developing cell-based therapies for heart disease.

Examining Heart Cell Maturation in Space

After successfully testing the theory in a ground-based study using simulated microgravity, Xu and her team conducted two spaceflight investigations. The first examined how stem cells differentiate into heart muscle cells, while the second looked at the maturation of heart muscle cells into tissue-like structures. Insight gained from the team’s space-based research could significantly advance methods to produce cardiac cells for regenerative therapies, helping to transform the landscape of heart disease treatment.

In the article, Xu says, “The space environment provides an amazing opportunity for us to study cells in new ways. Our research on the ISS could allow us to develop a new strategy to generate cardiac cells more efficiently with improved survival when transplanted into damaged heart tissue, which would greatly benefit patients on Earth.”

Reference:
  1. Studying Cardiac Cells in Space to Repair Heart Damage on Earth - (https://issnationallab.org/press-releases/upward-81-emory-uiversity-cardiac-cells/ )

Source-Eurekalert



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