Spinach to Heart: How a Leaf Could Help Heal Us
- Sarah Kim
- Mar 15
- 3 min read
When you look at a spinach leaf, you would probably think of a salad or a side dish, not a future medical tool. However, scientists have found that the structure of the spinach leaf could one day help repair damaged human hearts. A major challenge in the cardiology department is to find a way to grow thick, strong heart tissue in a lab to use to support a damaged heart. When someone experiences a heart attack, heart muscle cells become weaker, which may lead to heart failure as a result. Current treatment for this issue is to place a “patch” of living heart tissue on the damaged area. However, building such a patch is very complicated as it requires a network of tiny and functioning blood vessels, which even a highly developed 3D printer cannot replicate.
This is where the spinach leaf comes in. A spinach leaf has a delicate system of veins that carry water and nutrients to all parts of the leaf. These veins surprisingly have a very similar size and pattern to the blood vessels in human bodies. Based on this realization, scientists started to consider reusing spinach leaves’ structure as a scaffold for heart tissue. To use a spinach leaf, scientists first removed all the plant cells in the leaf. This process is called decellularization, where a soap-like solution is pumped through the veins to remove all plant materials and any DNA in the leaf. After decellularization, the leaf is left behind with a see-through skeleton made of cellulose. This skeleton provides a strong and flexible material that can handle flowing liquid and is biocompatible, meaning that it does not cause harm when in contact with human cells.
Once the leaf has been stripped of its plant cells, scientists then begin to add heart cells, known as cardiomyocytes, onto the leaf so that they can attach and grow in a layer. They also introduce normal line blood vessels, called endothelial cells, into the veins of the leaf. In the laboratory condition, the heart cells attached to the leaf and even started beating rhythmically, just like heart tissue. Scientists also pumped colored liquids and tiny particles to simulate the circulation of blood and demonstrated how the veins in the leaf would be able to act as heart tissue.
Despite this success in their investigation, it is essential to be realistic about what the spinach leaf can do. A human heart contains thick walls, chambers, valves that keep blood moving, and a complex electrical pathway that coordinates each heartbeat. A flat leaf cannot replace all these functions and support the entire organ. Nevertheless, scientists believe that if they can stack many decellularized leaves on top of one another to make a thicker patch of heart tissue, they might be able to place this on a damaged area of the heart to help the heart continue to pump and slow down the progression of heart failure. There are still challenges to overcome, such as making sure that all plant materials are removed to be completely harmless to the human body and figuring out how long the cellulose patch would stay attached to the heart. Another issue the scientists are facing is finding a way to connect the tiny veins from the leaf to the blood vessels to ensure the smooth flow of blood. All of these challenges require many trials and experiments before implementing the leaf as a way to support a damaged heart.
Citations
Contessi Negrini, Nicola, et al. “Plant Tissues as 3D Natural Scaffolds for Adipose, Bone and Tendon Tissue Regeneration.” Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, vol. 8, 30 June 2020, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7344190/, https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2020.00723.
Gershlak, Joshua R., et al. “Crossing Kingdoms: Using Decellularized Plants as Perfusable Tissue Engineering Scaffolds.” Biomaterials, vol. 125, May 2017, pp. 13–22, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142961217300856, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2017.02.011.
Ross, Delaney. “Spinach Leaf Transformed into Beating Human Heart Tissue.” Science, 25 Mar. 2017, www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/human-heart-spinach-leaf-medicine-science.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute. “WPI Team Grows Heart Tissue on Spinach Leaves.” WPI, 2017, wpi.edu/news/wpi-team-grows-heart-tissue-spinach-leaves. Accessed 15 Mar. 2026.
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