Citation
(2008), "The construction of heart modelling leads path to new therapies", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 38 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2008.01738cab.035
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
The construction of heart modelling leads path to new therapies
Article Type: Food Facts From: Nutrition & Food Science, Volume 38, Issue 3.
Heart disease is still a major killer, especially in the western world, but new therapies based on stem cells and other techniques could now be imminent. Progress is being held back however by the difficulty testing new therapies on human heart tissue, with animal models being only of limited value owing to differences in structure and activity. The only solution in the absence of real human models is to create computerised "in-silico" models that simulate the real heart and enable possible drugs and therapies to be tested without risk to people. Although this is still some way off becoming a reality, substantial progress has been made, and the next steps were plotted at a major workshop held recently by the ESF.
The workshop highlighted how recent progress in imaging technologies was helping heart modellers overcome the big dilemma they have faced up till now actually proving that the models really are an accurate representation of the real human heart.