Bioengineers send cardiac muscle samples into space to study heart cell biology in microgravity

Mount Sinai’s Cardiovascular Analysis Institute is sending bioengineered human coronary heart muscle cells and micro-tissues into space for the primary time on NASA’s twenty ninth SpaceX business resupply companies mission, which launched Thursday, November 9. The “SpaceX CRS-29” mission is sending scientific analysis to the Worldwide Area Station (ISS), the place the samples will keep for roughly 30 days earlier than returning to Earth.

By means of this experiment, Icahn Faculty of Medication at Mount Sinai researchers purpose to achieve a greater understanding of how cardiac muscle cells, or cardiomyocytes, adapt to excessive organic stresses and the way microgravity and different options of space journey affect cardiomyocyte perform. The findings will assist scientists discover higher methods to check coronary heart cell biology in future space experiments.

Understanding the capabilities and limitations of such coronary heart cells to outlive will not be solely vital for the well being of astronauts but additionally a primary step towards future efforts in space-based tissue engineering, organoid fabrication, and bioprinting, that are all vital gamers within the rising economic system of biomanufacturing within the microgravity setting often called low Earth orbit.

Mount Sinai is partnering with Area Tango to run this experiment. Area Tango gives entry to microgravity for analysis and growth functions on the ISS. Area Tango will handle Mount Sinai’s tissues, which shall be sealed in particular person small-scale experimental containers known as cryovials and positioned in a bigger containment unit often called a CubeLab.

These one-milliliter vials additionally comprise cell tradition media and components to assist preserve the cardiac muscle cells alive for an prolonged interval, with some beating and a few chemically arrested to scale back their metabolism and see if their survival is impacted. As soon as the cargo capsule carrying the analysis arrives on the ISS, astronauts will place the CubeLab in a devoted Area Tango facility. After roughly 30 days, astronauts will return the samples to Earth, and Mount Sinai researchers will start their analyzes.

Astronauts generally expertise indicators of coronary heart failure throughout space missions as a consequence of excessive circumstances that appear to speed up the getting older course of. Their signs mimic what occurs to folks on Earth as they age or are bedridden however at an accelerated tempo and a youthful age. Outcomes from this experiment might assist researchers determine new methods to guard the center well being of astronauts whereas in space and to develop new therapies for heart problems amongst getting older populations on Earth.

“This mission will assist us perceive the affect of microgravity and space flight on engineered human coronary heart muscle cells and micro-tissues and can check for the primary time how these extremely energetic beating coronary heart muscle cells adapt to a month of publicity to such excessive circumstances. One of many thrilling points of the experiment is that the samples shall be shipped to Mount Sinai alive after they return to Earth, so we will check how the tissues carry out once they come again,” explains Kevin Costa, Ph.D., the mission chief and an Affiliate Professor of Medication (Cardiology) at Icahn Mount Sinai.

“As we achieve a greater understanding of how these engineered cardiac cells and tissues perform, we will discover new methods to assist defend astronauts to allow them to keep in space longer to finish extra in-depth exploratory missions. This may even present clues about the right way to higher defend the hearts of individuals on Earth from the detrimental results of getting older and inactivity.”

Mount Sinai generated these human coronary heart muscle cell samples from induced pluripotent stem cells from a wholesome grownup donor. The cells are cultured in three distinct configurations: 2D monolayers, 3D spheroids, and 3D elongated cardiac tissue codecs. This can check whether or not the 3D tradition circumstances, that are extra physiologic than 2D cultures, provide a organic benefit for the center cells.

“The purpose of the experiment is to evaluate the flexibility for our engineered cardiac cells and micro-tissues to outlive in a sealed setting in microgravity for 30 days, and to check the survival traits to equal samples cultured in our laboratory at Mount Sinai’s Cardiovascular Analysis Institute. We’re testing to see if microgravity will alter the cardiomyocyte’s capability to adapt to this enclosed setting and to see if there are variations within the biology of the cells which might be returned from the ISS,” provides Dr. Costa.

“We hope to study extra concerning the results of microgravity on human coronary heart cell and tissue biology, and to discover the potential for performing such research in a sealed setting that doesn’t require the standard fluidic alternate techniques that considerably add to the complexity of doing cell biology in space.”

“As the price of space flight continues to drop, and an increasing number of folks start to dwell and work in space, will probably be vital to grasp how that setting impacts their our bodies. Miniaturized bioengineered tissues are nice instruments for studying about this whereas minimizing launch prices. We’re excited to have the ability to apply our instruments in direction of the brand new discipline of space drugs and to make use of microgravity as a mannequin of human getting older,” says researcher David Sachs, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at Icahn Mount Sinai.