âExercise is medicineâ is a commonly quoted phrase. But as is so often the case with medications, more is not always better. What counts as too much exercise, and how can it affect the heart? Does running a marathon or competing in an Ironman triathlon boost your health, or might it do the opposite? The development of the Micro-Athlete mini-heart (a heart-on-a-chip that mimics the human heart) is giving researchers valuable new insights into cardiovascular disease.
A marathon in the laboratory
With cultured human heart tissue and electrical stimulation, researchers can simulate endurance exercise in the laboratory. "We can simulate exercise conditions by making the heart tissue beat at a frequency of 150 beats per minute," says Thijs Eijsvogels of the Radboud university medical center. The results are promising. The stimulated heart tissue shows the same change in the contraction force and release of biomarkers as in people who exercise intensively. This makes the model a reliable starting point for follow-up research into the effects of strenuous exercise on the heart.
Research with patient-specific heart tissue
The cultured heart tissue is made from human stem cells and can even be developed from cells from individual patients. "By studying how this cultured heart tissue behaves, we can find out what causes heart disease," says Robert Passier of the University of Twente. According to the researchers, the model is an important step towards more human-oriented research models, which can reduce dependence on animal testing.
More informationÂ
Visit the website.Â