This November, Nature Communications published a scientific article by Técnico researchers, in co-authorship with i3S, about the recreation of the embryonic development of the human heart in the laboratory.

In this work, the Portuguese scientists produced several cellular models (organoids), from human stem cells, which mimic the early stages of the embryonic development of the heart.

Although since 2013 organoids that mimic different organs of the human body have been developed, only in 2021 has science achieved similar progress in the heart.

Now, the team from the Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (iBB) led by Margarida Diogo and composed of researchers Mariana Branco, Tiago P. Dias, Joaquim M. S. Cabral – in partnership with Perpétua Pinto do Ó from I3S – has generated a self-organized heart organoid comprising an epicardium-like layer that fully surrounds a myocardium-like tissue. These organoids also recapitulate other processes never recreated before in the laboratory.

In practice, the results of this research will allow studying the mechanisms of interaction between these two layers of the heart – epicardium and myocardium – during the embryonic development and pathologies caused by alterations in the course of these interactions. These cellular models may also be used to analyse the effect of drugs on heart diseases, as well as their toxicity during embryonic development. The latter topic is of particular relevance as pregnant women aren’t typically included in clinical trials. Therefore, the in vitro platform based on human cells is the only viable alternative to test the toxicity of substances at that stage.