Time again to consider the carbon nanotube, that seemingly magical material that has been put forth as an answer to everything from semiconductor interconnects to drug delivery devices to super-strong cables for an elevator to space. The nanotube now has found a possible application that is literally close to the heart. Technology Review tells us about the work of Brown University’s Thomas Webster, who is developing a carbon nanotube patch to regenerate heart cells after a heart attack.
The patch already has regenerated heart tissue in a dish, according to research published in Acta Biomaterialia. Creating a material that helps repair damaged tissue is considered an important area of inquiry for heart specialists. Fix what’s broken after a heart attack, and a followup cardiac event is less likely. Webster tells Technology Review that his work is unique because it addresses not just the beating heart muscles, but also nerve cells that help them contract and endothelial cells line blood vessels leading to and from the heart. The patch helped regenerate all three types.
The advantage of nanotubes is that they are such great conductors, they “would continue to provide electrical stimulus to the heart” even after tissue grows around them, Webster said. Plus, they do not naturally degrade in the body.
The technology still has a long way to travel from petri dish to human heart, but Webster suggests a possible quicker path to market: the family dog. Dogs have smaller hearts and have a harder time than humans compensating for damage. A nanotube patch on pets “could be a way to get this technology out earlier,” Webster tells Technology Review.
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