The model is open for the public to view as part of the Heart exhibition in RCSI’s Humanarium.

Researchers at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences hope to better understand diseases in the mitral heart valve with an artificial model that mimics the valve’s complex mechanisms.

The heart’s mitral valve opens and closes around 100,000 times each day, making its mechanical properties key to healthy heart function.

When the valve does not work properly, blood can leak backwards through the heart in a condition called ‘mitral regurgitation’. This condition affects millions worldwide, with that number growing alongside global life expectancy.

“Advancing our understanding of mitral valve function is dependent on developing synthetic alternatives that capture the valve’s complex mechanical behaviour, which is achieved in this study,” explained Dr Claire Conway, a lecturer in RCSI’s department of anatomy and regenerative medicine, and one of the authors of the new study published in Acta Biomaterialia.

The study was funded through an RCSI Star Lectureship and the Research Ireland Frontiers for the Future Programme, and carried out by the RCSI Tissue Engineering Research Group.

Generally, synthetic mitral valves lack multi-directional mechanical properties and are unable to withstand the blood pressure and flow of a human heart, the researchers said.

This new model makes a marked change by being the “first of its kind” to incorporate the mechanical properties of real heart valve tissue, while also operating under realistic heart pressures and flow conditions, they explained.

The model also allows control over the tension and thickness of the parts that allow the valve to open and close effectively.

“This model captures native anatomy and the fabrication is precise and repeatable,” said Conway. “Physical and digital tests of the valve revealed it successfully functioned under physiological flow and physiological pressure, representing a significant advance in the field.”

Dr Sina Javadpour, first author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at Trinity College Dublin, said: “This model gives us precise control over key features of the mitral valve while still reproducing the way it functions in the heart.

“That makes it a powerful tool for studying valve disease and testing new repair strategies in a controlled laboratory environment.”

The model is open for the public to view as part of the Heart exhibition in Humanarium at RCSI.

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