title: Natural cardiac extracellular matrix sheet as a biomaterial for cardiomyocyte transplantation.
abstract: Cardiovascular diseases associated with myocardial infarction are among the major causes of death worldwide due to the limited regenerative capacity of cardiac tissues. Although various approaches, such as biosynthetic biomaterials, have been developed to promote postinfarction cardiac regeneration, a number of limitations, including the immune complications caused by biodegradation of these scaffolds and insufficient cell migration, need to be overcome prior to their clinical application. Hence, the development of natural biomaterials to support myocardial regeneration is crucial. Here, we investigated the effects of a natural biomaterial, cardiac extracellular matrix (ECM) on the proliferation and maintenance of cardiomyocytes in order to assess its suitability for cardiomyocyte expansion. The ECM components not only provide mechanical support, but also induce and preserve the required phenotypic and functional characteristics of the cells. We prepared ECM sheets from decellularized cardiac sections. Cardiomyocytes were then cultured with and without these cardiac ECM sheets. We compared the proliferation rates and phenotypes, and cardiac gene and protein expression, of the cultured cardiomyocytes by automatic cell counting and the MTT assay, microscopy, and RT-PCR and western blotting, respectively. The cardiomyocytes cultured with the natural cardiac ECM sheets exhibited higher proliferation rates and cardiac gene and protein expression than those cultured without the ECM sheets. Our results demonstrate that the ECM sheets are suitable for use in cardiomyocyte transplantation and can provide a novel in vitro model for investigating cell and ECM interactions. We hypothesize that these ECM sheets can be used in the future to improve cardiac transplantation strategies.
authors.affiliation: Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, Center for Stem Cell Research, Department of Biomedical Science and Technology, Institute of Biomedical Science & Technology (IBST), Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, Center for Stem Cell Research, Department of Biomedical Science and Technology, Institute of Biomedical Science & Technology (IBST), Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, Center for Stem Cell Research, Department of Biomedical Science and Technology, Institute of Biomedical Science & Technology (IBST), Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Nemeno
authors.affiliation: Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, Center for Stem Cell Research, Department of Biomedical Science and Technology, Institute of Biomedical Science & Technology (IBST), Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: IT Design Fusion Program, Graduate School Of NID Fusion Technology, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, Center for Stem Cell Research, Department of Biomedical Science and Technology, Institute of Biomedical Science & Technology (IBST), Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, Center for Stem Cell Research, Department of Biomedical Science and Technology, Institute of Biomedical Science & Technology (IBST), Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: jeongik@konkuk.ac.kr.
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005109:Extracellular Matrix; D048091:Guided Tissue Regeneration / Q000379:methods*; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000502:physiology / Q000637:transplantation*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D015415:Biomarkers