Related: Uzbekistan And China Explore Possible Space Cooperation<\/a><\/p>\n Why Microgravity Changes Everything for Growing Tissue<\/p>\n Heart organoids are self-organised clusters of stem cells that beat like a miniature heart. On Earth, producing them requires suspension bioreactors that keep cells floating. The process works, but spinning the cells introduces mechanical agitation they find stressful.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cells love being grown in this way,\u201d Sharma said. \u201cBut to force them into suspension, you typically have to spin them around and introduce some sort of a force, which the cells can sense. And they don\u2019t like being always agitated this way.\u201d<\/p>\n In microgravity, floating requires no such intervention. The cells drift freely and, apparently, thrive.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have seen a very significant increase in terms of organoid production,\u201d Sharma said. He declined to give specific figures ahead of publication, but added: \u201cI can say that the scale of production is something that\u2019s been very impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n A Paradox at the Heart of Space Medicine<\/p>\n The finding sits oddly alongside what microgravity does to existing cardiac tissue. Without gravity\u2019s resistance, astronauts\u2019 hearts shrink, weaken and shift towards a more circular shape. Even heart muscle cells flown to the ISS<\/a> in petri dishes deteriorate; their ability to contract declines, and their metabolism shifts.<\/p>\n The distinction, Sharma suggests, lies in the difference between making something new and preserving something already made.<\/p>\n \u201cOn one side, you have things that have already been made before that are being exposed to low gravity and potentially deteriorating,\u201d he said. \u201cOn the other side, you are actually making those things from scratch in space.\u201d<\/p>\n The Long Road From Orbit to Operating Theatre<\/p>\n No space-grown heart tissue has reached human patients yet, and no trials are in the pipeline. Sharma\u2019s near-term goal is using space-produced organoids to test new cardiac drugs. Further ahead, he wants to manufacture heart muscle patches in orbit for patients awaiting transplants. He believes space-made patches could be \u201cthicker, more robust\u201d and less prone to collapse on return to Earth.<\/p>\n
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Published by Kerry Harrison<\/p>\n