title: Vascularisation for cardiac tissue engineering: the extracellular matrix.
abstract: Cardiovascular diseases present a major socio-economic burden. One major problem underlying most cardiovascular and congenital heart diseases is the irreversible loss of contractile heart muscle cells, the cardiomyocytes. To reverse damage incurred by myocardial infarction or by surgical correction of cardiac malformations, the loss of cardiac tissue with a thickness of a few millimetres needs to be compensated. A promising approach to this issue is cardiac tissue engineering. In this review we focus on the problem of in vitro vascularisation as implantation of cardiac patches consisting of more than three layers of cardiomyocytes (> 100 µm thick) already results in necrosis. We explain the need for vascularisation and elaborate on the importance to include non-myocytes in order to generate functional vascularised cardiac tissue. We discuss the potential of extracellular matrix molecules in promoting vascularisation and introduce nephronectin as an example of a new promising candidate. Finally, we discuss current biomaterial-based approaches including micropatterning, electrospinning, 3D micro-manufacturing technology and porogens. Collectively, the current literature supports the notion that cardiac tissue engineering is a realistic option for future treatment of paediatric and adult patients with cardiac disease.
authors.forename: Chinmoy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Patra
authors.forename: Aldo R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Boccaccini
authors.affiliation: Felix B. Engel, Department of Nephropathology, Institute of Pathology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Universitätsstraße 22, 91054 Erlangen, Germany, Tel.: +49 9131 8543635, E-mail: felix.engel@uk-erlangen.de.
authors.forename: Felix B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Engel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic; D012038:Regeneration; D044968:Regenerative Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D023822:Tissue Engineering
keywords: Heart; coronary vasculature; extracellular matrix; tissue engineering; vascularisation