Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States have combined a biological heart with a silicone robot pump to create a biological robot heart that can beat like a real heart. The achievement, published on January 10th in the journal Equipment, can simulate the structure, function, and movement of a healthy or diseased heart, allowing surgeons and researchers to demonstrate various intervention measures while collecting real-time data. The current heart simulator cannot fully simulate the complexity of the heart, with a shelf life of only 2-4 hours. Moreover, animal research is both expensive and time-consuming, and the research results may not be applicable to humans. The biological robot heart can make up for these regrets, not only with low cost, but also with a shelf life of several months. This time, researchers focused on mitral regurgitation. The symptom of mitral regurgitation is that the valves between the left ventricles cannot be closed correctly, leading to valve leakage and possible backflow of blood. This disease affects approximately 24.2 million people worldwide and can cause shortness of breath, limb swelling, and heart failure. In order to better understand the condition of mitral valve in both healthy and diseased conditions, the team constructed a biological robot heart based on pig heart. Researchers replaced the myocardium in the left ventricle with an air driven silicone soft robot pump system. When inflated, the system will twist and compress like a real heart muscle, pumping artificial blood through a simulated circulatory system and simulating the beating of the heart. When researchers damaged the mitral valve of the biological robot's heart, it exhibited characteristics of valve leakage. Then, the researchers instructed cardiac surgeons to use three different techniques to correct the injury: anchoring the swinging valve leaflet tissue with artificial tendons; Replace damaged valves with artificial valves; Implant a device to assist in the closure of valve leaflets. All three surgeries were successful, with normal pressure, flow rate, and cardiac function restored. The system can also collect real-time data during the surgical process and is compatible with the current imaging technology used. Due to the transparency of the artificial blood used in the system, the entire process can also be directly visualized. Next, the team's goal is to optimize the current biological robot heart system by shortening production time and further extending shelf life. In addition to using pig hearts, they are also exploring the use of 3D printing technology to reconstruct a synthetic human heart. (Lixin News Agency) (Reporter Zhang Jiaxin)