Biological pacemaker
A biological pacemaker is one or more types of cellular components that, when "implanted or injected into certain regions of the heart," produce specific electrical stimuli that mimic that of the body's natural pacemaker cells.[1] Biological pacemakers are indicated for issues such as heart block, slow heart rate, and asynchronous heart ventricle contractions.[2][3]
The biological pacemaker is intended as an alternative to the
History
The first successful experiment with biological pacemakers was carried out by
Meanwhile, other genes and cells have been discovered, including heart muscle cells derived from
In 2014, a gene called TBX18 has been non-invasively applied to speed up heart rates caused by heart block.[2] More recent studies in 2015, has been experimented optogenetic approach in the rats heart, where a light sensitive transgene (Channelrhodopsin-2) injected to several sites of rat's ventricular, which, furthermore, can simultaneously stimulate the injection sites by a blue light irradiation.[3]
References
- ^ ISBN 9781481650717. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
- ^ a b Ellis, Marie (17 July 2014). "Scientists create 'biological pacemakers' by transplanting gene into hearts". Medical News Today. MediLexicon International Ltd. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
- ^ a b Hattori, K. (22 June 2015). "Blue light sets the beat in biological pacemaker". Science Daily. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
- PMID 12062274.
- S2CID 4318994.
- PMID 14734518.
- PMID 20067385.