New heart patch may reduce muscle damage after heart attack

New Delhi, Apr 20 (ANI): Scientists have designed an adhesive patch that can be placed on the heart and could reduce the stretching of the heart muscle which is often followed by a heart attack. According to the research, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, biochemical markers showed that the patch reduced cell death, scar tissue accumulation and oxidative stress in tissue damaged by a heart attack. The patch, made from water-based hydrogel material, was developed using computer simulations of heart function in order to fine-tune the material's mechanical properties. A study in rats showed that the patch was effective in preventing left ventricle remodelling- a stretching of the heart muscle that is common after a heart attack and can reduce the function of the heart's main pumping chamber. The research also showed that the computer-optimised patch outperformed patches whose mechanical properties had been selected on an ad-hoc basis. Prior research had shown that mechanical pat