Finger-sized artificial heart developed at HKU  

港大造出全球首個人造心臟 5年內(nèi)可望臨床應(yīng)用

缺乏器官捐贈，加上細(xì)胞療法尚未成熟，令心臟病成為香港第三號殺手。由香港大學(xué)牽頭的研究團(tuán)隊研究出數(shù)項專利技術(shù)，可以一個萬能干細(xì)胞大量提煉出80個心肌細(xì)胞，5年內(nèi)可望臨床應(yīng)用，幫助病人修復(fù)壞死的心肌細(xì)胞。團(tuán)隊更成功造出世上首個體積如手指頭大小的人類人造心臟作藥物測試，并已測試30至50種有毒性的藥物，期望明年可測試3000以至更多種藥物。[查看全文]

(ECNS) – A research team at the University of Hong Kong has succeeded in extracting 80 cardiac muscle cells from an embryonic stem cell, and developed the world's first finger-sized artificial heart, according to Ta Kung Pao.

Professor Li Ronald Adolphus, director of the university's research center on stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, said it may take five years before the cardiac muscle cells are put into clinical application, but the artificial heart has been used for testing toxic drugs.

The artificial heart cannot be transplanted to human beings yet, but it contains human cells and can be used to test whether a drug is toxic to the human heart, Li said.

"The team has tested about 30 to 50 kinds of toxic drugs with the heart, and we expect to test thousands of drugs with it next year."

The research focused on extracting heart muscle cells to help repair the dead cells in cardiac patients.

Heart disease is the No. 3 killer in Hong Kong.