Fibers for hearts: A critical review on electrospinning for cardiac tissue engineering.
Cardiac cell therapy holds a real promise for improving heart function and especially of the chronically failing myocardium. Embedding cells into 3D biodegradable scaffolds may better preserve cell survival and enhance cell engraftment after transplantation, consequently improving cardiac cell therapy compared with direct intramyocardial injection of isolated cells. The primary objective of a scaffold used in tissue engineering is the recreation of the natural 3D environment most suitable for an adequate tissue growth. An important aspect of this commitment is to mimic the fibrillar structure of the extracellular matrix, which provides essential guidance for cell organization, survival, and function. Recent advances in nanotechnology have significantly improved our capacities to mimic the extracellular matrix. Among them, electrospinning is well known for being easy to process and cost effective. Consequently, it is becoming increasingly popular for biomedical applications and it is most definitely the cutting edge technique to make scaffolds that mimic the extracellular matrix for industrial applications. Here, the desirable physico-chemical properties of the electrospun scaffolds for cardiac therapy are described, and polymers are categorized to natural and synthetic.Moreover, the methods used for improving functionalities by providing cells with the necessary chemical cues and a more in vivo-like environment are reported.
Instituto de Microelectrónica de Barcelona, IMB-CNM (CSIC), Campus Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: kitsara.m@gmail.com.
Maria
M
Kitsara
Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine (IBPS), UMR CNRS 8256, Biological Adaptation and Ageing, 75005 Paris, France.
Onnik
O
Agbulut
School of Chemical and Process Engineering, Engineering Department, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT Leeds, UK.
Dimitrios
D
Kontziampasis
Ecole Normale Supérieure-PSL Research University, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR CNRS 8640, PASTEUR, 75005 Paris, France; Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
Yong
Y
Chen
Université Sorbonne Paris Cité, Univ Paris Descartes; INSERM U970, 75015 Paris, France; Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, 75015 Paris, France. Electronic address: philippe.menasche@aphp.fr.
Philippe
P
Menasché
D000818:Animals; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*
D011108:Polymers
Biopolymers; Cardiac cells; Electrospinning; Functional scaffold; Heart therapy; Surface modification; Tissue engineering