The photo is sourced from urfu.ru
Practically all cardiac pacemakers are used for treatment of bradycardia, i.e., slow cardiac rhythm. In a state of rest the heart beats at 50–70 times per minute, but in a state of stress or under exercise load the cardiac rate is two or three times higher. Respectively, when the cardiac rhythm is slow, the brain and the body do not get sufficient blood flow, which has an adverse effect on human health.
Intrusive cardiac pacemakers are the most efficient ones. They are different from other devices because they are implanted inside the patient’s body during a surgery. The biocompatible crystalline films developed by the scientists from Urals Federal University and University of Aveiro (Portugal) are especially good for these devices. The basic substance used for making these films is diphenylalanine – a form of phenylalanine, one of 20 amino acids contained in proteins. This substance is an element of human organism, hence, the materials made of diphenylalanine are highly compatible with living tissues.
The authors of the research synthetised the films using a new method – crystallisation from the amorphous phase when exposed to aqueous vapour. The traditional method means crystallisation in aqueous solution causing the formation of structures with poorly controlled morphology.
“Previously, our colleagues have identified high piezoelectric in diphenylalanine. But the problem is that it is very difficult to create films with flat morphology from this substance, because in the solution diphenylalanine gets into tubular structures. This created big difficulties, because when it is necessary to create elements for microelectronics, the film surface needs to be smooth, so that electrodes could be placed on it. The method developed by us allowed for resolving this problem — we succeeded in receiving films with flat morphology”, Urals Federal University is citing Denis Alikin, the head of the laboratory of functional nanomaterials and nanodevices.
Biocompatible films will be generating electric current when the heart is beating, and it will be accumulated in the batteries of cardiac pacemakers. The accumulating devices created on the basis of such materials will allow for eliminating the need for regular replacement of worked-out batteries thus minimising the number of surgical interventions.
