Descripción del proyecto
Un músculo artificial para la aplicación de dispositivos de asistencia a la contracción cardíaca
Los tratamientos quirúrgicos o médicos actuales no pueden restablecer la capacidad de contracción muscular en la insuficiencia cardíaca y la fibrilación auricular, las enfermedades cardíacas más habituales y graves. Un método revolucionario consistiría en utilizar materiales inteligentes para ayudar o restablecer la función mecánica cardíaca. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos REPAIR tiene como objetivo estudiar y consolidar un nuevo método de asistencia a la contracción cardíaca. Los investigadores del proyecto desarrollarán unidades contráctiles biomiméticas hechas de un elastómero cristalino líquido. Los prototipos del proyecto allanarán el camino a nuevas tecnologías biomédicas que conducirán a una mejora de la calidad de vida y la supervivencia.
Objetivo
Heart Failure (HF) and Atrial Fibrillation (AF) are both associated with impairment of cardiac mechanical function. To assist ventricular contractility in HF, left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) have been developed and demonstrated able to reduce mortality in patients awaiting transplantation, but enormous disadvantages largely limit their long-term use. In parallel, promising devices to mechanically assist atrial contractile function have been successfully tested in large animals but never reached the clinical use. Our revolutionary idea to solve these clinical challenges is to exploit smart materials to support or restore the cardiac mechanical function. Among smart materials, liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are able to respond to external stimuli in a reversible manner to generate movement or tension. The REPAIR consortium has recently developed a novel LCE-based artificial muscle that under external light stimulation is able to enhance cardiac muscle contraction. These results pave the way for the development of a novel generation of cardiac assist devices. We will first develop a mechanical performant and energetically efficient LCE material that, integrated with light sources (µLED array), will result in fundamental biomimetic contractile units to be structured in a suturable, remote controlled contractile tissue. The LCE-µLEDs contractile tissue will be exploited to develop a new generation of cardiac assist devices (e.g. ventriculoplasty patches, aortic rings for diastolic counterpulsation and epicardial bundles for atrial contraction assistance) and test the effects of their acute implantation in large mammals (open-chest sacrifice experiments) and human explanted hearts. Among LCE-device features: they will be self-contracting, low weight, associated with low thromboembolic risk, and most importantly, they will rely on a control unit that can modulate the exerted force providing the fist “tunable” cardiac assist device ever developed.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Convocatoria de propuestas
Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoriaConvocatoria de subcontratación
H2020-EIC-FETPROACT-2019
Régimen de financiación
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinador
50121 Florence
Italia