A beating 'mini heart' cultured in the laboratory is launched towards the International Space Station
The unmanned spacecraft '
NASA Sets Coverage for Next SpaceX Resupply Launch to Space Station | NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-sets-coverage-for-next-spacex-resupply-launch-to-space-station-0
Engineered Heart Tissues-2
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8801
Beating 'hearts on a chip' will travel to space on SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship tonight | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/beating-hearts-on-a-chip-will-travel-to-space-on-spacexs-dragon-cargo-ship-tonight
SpaxeX's Dragon was also mounted on SpaceX's launch rocket ' Falcon 9 ' and was launched at 9:30 am on March 15, 2023 Japan time.
Falcon 9 launches Dragon to the @space_station pic.twitter.com/mGKZYW0pEa
—SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 15, 2023
Dragon is equipped with a cardiac organoid, a miniature model of a beating heart containing induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) that mimic the function of human tissues and organs. The Space Station National Laboratory will jointly conduct the experiments.
Cardiac organoids contain two contracting cardiomyocytes in a fluid-filled container. These cells grew from stem cells and were coaxialized into a 3D shape in the laboratory. In addition, this container contains a magnet that operates every time the cardiomyocyte contracts, and by tracking the movement of the magnet with a sensor, researchers can observe the contraction of the heart in real time.
This cardiac organoid will be treated as part of the `` Cardinal Heart 2.0 '' experiment, which investigates the effects of microgravity like outer space on drug response. An overview of `` Cardinal Heart 2.0 '' is shown in the following movie.
According to previous NASA research, unlike in Earth's gravity, the heart, which is located in the upper part of the body, does not need to move as hard to pump blood throughout the body under the microgravity of outer space. It has been shown that if you are in space, your heart will contract . In addition, blood moves from the legs and abdomen to the head and torso under microgravity, suggesting that the shape of the heart may change.
Devin Mare of Johns Hopkins University sent heart tissue to space in March 2020, and at that time found signs of malfunction of mitochondria in cells. In this experiment, we will not only study mitochondrial dysfunction under microgravity, but also investigate whether administration of existing drugs can address this problem.
In addition, we plan to test whether the administration of statins , which reduce the risk of myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular disease, and antihypertensive drugs to cardiac organoids can protect heart cells from microgravity stress. It is said that these studies not only have important significance for future space exploration, but also may lead to new discoveries of treatments for cardiac dysfunction and diseases that occur on earth.
Dragon equipped with heart organoids etc. is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station at 20:52 on March 16, 2023 Japan time.
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