SPIDER SILK : TO GROW HUMAN HEART

Humans have been making use of spider silk for thousands of years.  The ancient Greeks used cobwebs to stop wounds from bleeding and the Aborigines used silk as fishing lines for small fish.  More recently, silk was used as the crosshairs in optical targeting devices such as guns and telescopes until World War II and people of the Solomon Islands still use silk as fish nets

Now with a new research doctors might one day use the stuff to grow a new heart.

 Researchers have grown cardiac tissue on spider silk that can beat like natural heart tissue. The elasticity and non-toxic nature of the material make it perfect for growing human hearts.

MIPT researchers found that genetically engineered fibres of the  protein spidroin, which was the construction material for spider webs, has proven to be a perfect substrate for cultivating heart tissue cells

Scientists at the Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology examined if lab-grown silk proteins could be used as a mesh to grow cardiomyocytes, the cells that form heart tissue. Cardiomyocytes were seeded on electrospun spidroin fiber structures and cultured to form confluent cardiac monolayers.The spidroin fiber meshes were found to be directly suitable for the adherence and growth of the cardiomyocytes and represent a much needed material for bio-scaffolds.

Previously, the group used synthetic polymeric nanofibers but recently decided to assay another material-electrospunfibers of spidroin, the cobweb protein. Cobweb strands are incredibly lightand durable. They're five times stronger than steel, twice more elastic than nylon, and are capable of stretching a third of their length. The structure of spidroin molecules that make up cobweb drag lines was similar to that of the silk protein, fibroin, but was much more durable.

Researchers have already used spidroin to grow cartilage and tendons as well as bone implants, so the Moscow scientists wanted to see if spidroin engineered in their lab could be utilized to cultivate cardiomyocytes, the cells that make up heart tissue.

They found it to be an ideal material; the fibers are five times as strong as steel and twice as elastic as nylon, capable of stretching another third of their length

for their experiments, the researchers seeded a spidroin fiber matrix with neonatal rat cardiomycetes. Within 3 to 5 days, a layer of cardiac cells had formed. Follow-up tests determined that this tissue was able to contract synchronously and conduct electrical impulses, just like normal heart tissue should This  monitoring, was carried out with the help of a microscope and fluorescent markers

so with this research we can probably grow a human heart,or we can also say that we are progressing towards our goal  of growing a replacement heart or other organ from a patient's own stem cells, which can then be transplanted without fear of rejection and eliminating the often dangerous wait for a suitable donor organ.