Hearty slices to plan for future health

Clinical trials have shown that heart function can only be moderately improved by injection of stem cells.1,2 Gains to date are most likely the result of increased wall stiffness and angiogenesis rather than generation of new, beating myocytes.3–5 Poor results could be due to the number and kind of cells used, the timing and method of delivery, lack of engraftment in an inhospitable local environment, general immune responses, and many more variables. Thus, although the current approach has been responsive to public pressure to rush to translate new ideas to a cure, the lack of a sound foundation in the basics makes the failure of stem cell therapy to date unsurprising. Working with whole animals is a most difficult way to learn because so much is beyond the control of the experimentalist and assays are limited. It is clear that experimental platforms are required to provide the rational groundwork before future cell therapy trials for cardiovascular disease are carried out.It is a pleasure to find a simple new platform of an in vitro beating heart model for long-term assessment of experimental therapeutics in this issue by Monville's … *Corresponding author. Tel: +1 312 413 0407; fax: +1 312 996 6312. E-mail address : russell{at}uic.edu