A group of researchers are working on a technology that could restore a person’s irregular, life-threatening heartbeat without using electric current from a pacemaker or defibrillator, but a “light” instead. They aim to make heartbeat restoration less painful and less harmful for the patient.
A combined group of researchers from Johns Hopkins and Stony Brook universities aims to create a better tool to restore failing hearts by using biological data and computer models. Using light to treat sensitive body parts such as the brain is already being used in the medical field. Scientists would like to apply the same low-light technology to the heart which could possibly benefit patients with critical heart conditions.
Natalia Trayanova, project lead of the study from the Murray B. Sachs Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins, admitted that electricity could help the heart but has its disadvantages. For instance, a defibrillator which uses up to 200 joules to restart a heart may cause danger when not properly administered.
The research team is eyeing the field of optogenetics to make their plan possible. Optogenetics is the same technology used to jumpstart the neurons of the brain to restore brain activities. It is being used by some to treat psychiatric disorders. Light-responsive proteins called opsins are inserted into the cells which when exposed to light will automatically send a wave of energy to the heart.
A test for this technology was successfully conducted on a computer. The computer was designed to simulate cardiac behavior from all levels and act like a real heart. Through biomedical engineering, scientists from Stony Brook were able to make the heart-computer responsive to light.
The virtual experiment aims to identify the best position and intensity of delivering light to the heart. Once finalized, within the 10-year timeline, it is planned to be tested on humans.
The study was published in the Aug. 28 issue of Nature Communications.
