Tel Aviv University in Israel marked a breakthrough in bioprinting by 3D printing a small heart using human tissue. The 3D printed heart is the most complex of its kind, containing vessels, collagen and intricate tissue layers.

Many research projects have been exploring the possibilities of printing cardiovascular tissue but they have never come close to a functional heart. However, this version of 3D printed heart is quite close to the real thing as it turns out.

The researchers produced patches that match the patients biology and eventually a heart with a proper cardiovascular structure. The heart’s height is 20 mm and its diameter stands at 14 mm. They printed it within a support medium using two distinct bioinks, one for parenchymal cardiac tissue and the other for blood vessels.

Video is from Youtube
Credit to Haaretz.com

Researchers told the Haaretz, though with imperfections in size and pumping motion, that this is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart complete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers.

Although, it may not be transplant-friendly, the 3D printed heart can serve other possible uses. Drug screening and development may benefit greatly from its eventual application. While other researchers printed hearts using flexible materials and other such substitutes, the use of human tissue in this research gives it a range of further applicability that other such experiments could not possess. These discoveries are crucial to understanding how to prepare and print an eventual functional organ.

Source 3dprinting.com
Image is from the internet