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Bioengineering

Remuscularizing the failing heart in primates

Nature Reviews Cardiology volume 22, page 221 (2025)Cite this article

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Tissue engineered heart muscle (EHM) implanted on to the epicardium can structurally and functionally remuscularize the failing hearts of rhesus macaques, with no major adverse effects. A clinical trial of this approach is now underway in patients with heart failure, and histological data from one participant show similar feasibility and signs of efficacy to the non-human primate model. These findings were published in Nature.

The investigators first tested implantation of rhesus macaque EHM into an athymic nude rat model of ischaemia–reperfusion injury. Rhesus macaque cardiomyocytes could be identified 4 weeks after implantation of viable EHM, but not when the EHM was lethally irradiated before implantation. Rats with viable EHM grafts had an increase in ejection fraction and stroke volume compared with baseline.

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Original article

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  • Yadid, M. et al. Bioengineering approaches to treat the failing heart: from cell biology to 3D printing. Nat. Rev. Cardiol. 19, 83–99 (2022)

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  1. Nature Reviews Cardiology http://www.nature.com/nrcardio/

    Gregory B. Lim

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  1. Gregory B. Lim
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Correspondence to Gregory B. Lim.

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Lim, G.B. Remuscularizing the failing heart in primates. Nat Rev Cardiol 22, 221 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-025-01136-z

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