title: Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Cardiac Strain Pattern Following Transplantation of Human Tissue Engineered Heart Muscles.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The use of tissue engineering approaches in combination with exogenously produced cardiomyocytes offers the potential to restore contractile function after myocardial injury. However, current techniques assessing changes in global cardiac performance after such treatments are plagued by relatively low detection ability. Since the treatment is locally performed, this detection could be improved by myocardial strain imaging that measures regional contractility.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Tissue engineered heart muscles (EHMs) were generated by casting human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes with collagen in preformed molds. EHMs were transplanted (n=12) to cover infarct and border zones of recipient rat hearts 1 month after ischemia reperfusion injury. A control group (n=10) received only sham placement of sutures without EHMs. To assess the efficacy of EHMs, magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound-based strain imaging were performed before and 4 weeks after transplantation. In addition to strain imaging, global cardiac performance was estimated from cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Although no significant differences were found for global changes in left ventricular ejection fraction (control -9.6±1.3% versus EHM -6.2±1.9%; P=0.17), regional myocardial strain from tagged magnetic resonance imaging was able to detect preserved systolic function in EHM-treated animals compared with control (control 4.4±1.0% versus EHM 1.0±0.6%; P=0.04). However, ultrasound-based strain failed to detect any significant change (control 2.1±3.0% versus EHM 6.3±2.9%; P=0.46).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study highlights the feasibility of using cardiac strain from tagged magnetic resonance imaging to assess functional changes in rat models following localized regenerative therapies, which may not be detected by conventional measures of global systolic performance.
authors.affiliation: From the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, CA (X.Q., J.R., X.Z., T.C., B.N., M.N., J.A., M.A., P.C.Y., P.N., J.C.W.); Auburn University MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AL (T.S.D.); Institute of Pharmacology, Heart Research Center, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University and German Center for Cardiovascular Research, Göttingen, Germany (M.T., W.H.Z.).
authors.forename: Xulei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: From the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, CA (X.Q., J.R., X.Z., T.C., B.N., M.N., J.A., M.A., P.C.Y., P.N., J.C.W.); Auburn University MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AL (T.S.D.); Institute of Pharmacology, Heart Research Center, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University and German Center for Cardiovascular Research, Göttingen, Germany (M.T., W.H.Z.).
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Riegler
authors.affiliation: From the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, CA (X.Q., J.R., X.Z., T.C., B.N., M.N., J.A., M.A., P.C.Y., P.N., J.C.W.); Auburn University MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AL (T.S.D.); Institute of Pharmacology, Heart Research Center, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University and German Center for Cardiovascular Research, Göttingen, Germany (M.T., W.H.Z.).
authors.forename: Malte
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tiburcy
authors.affiliation: From the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, CA (X.Q., J.R., X.Z., T.C., B.N., M.N., J.A., M.A., P.C.Y., P.N., J.C.W.); Auburn University MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AL (T.S.D.); Institute of Pharmacology, Heart Research Center, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University and German Center for Cardiovascular Research, Göttingen, Germany (M.T., W.H.Z.).
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: From the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, CA (X.Q., J.R., X.Z., T.C., B.N., M.N., J.A., M.A., P.C.Y., P.N., J.C.W.); Auburn University MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AL (T.S.D.); Institute of Pharmacology, Heart Research Center, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University and German Center for Cardiovascular Research, Göttingen, Germany (M.T., W.H.Z.).
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chour
authors.affiliation: From the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, CA (X.Q., J.R., X.Z., T.C., B.N., M.N., J.A., M.A., P.C.Y., P.N., J.C.W.); Auburn University MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AL (T.S.D.); Institute of Pharmacology, Heart Research Center, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University and German Center for Cardiovascular Research, Göttingen, Germany (M.T., W.H.Z.).
authors.forename: Babacar
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ndoye
authors.affiliation: From the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, CA (X.Q., J.R., X.Z., T.C., B.N., M.N., J.A., M.A., P.C.Y., P.N., J.C.W.); Auburn University MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AL (T.S.D.); Institute of Pharmacology, Heart Research Center, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University and German Center for Cardiovascular Research, Göttingen, Germany (M.T., W.H.Z.).
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: From the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, CA (X.Q., J.R., X.Z., T.C., B.N., M.N., J.A., M.A., P.C.Y., P.N., J.C.W.); Auburn University MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AL (T.S.D.); Institute of Pharmacology, Heart Research Center, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University and German Center for Cardiovascular Research, Göttingen, Germany (M.T., W.H.Z.).
authors.forename: Jackson
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.affiliation: From the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, CA (X.Q., J.R., X.Z., T.C., B.N., M.N., J.A., M.A., P.C.Y., P.N., J.C.W.); Auburn University MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AL (T.S.D.); Institute of Pharmacology, Heart Research Center, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University and German Center for Cardiovascular Research, Göttingen, Germany (M.T., W.H.Z.).
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ameen
authors.affiliation: From the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, CA (X.Q., J.R., X.Z., T.C., B.N., M.N., J.A., M.A., P.C.Y., P.N., J.C.W.); Auburn University MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AL (T.S.D.); Institute of Pharmacology, Heart Research Center, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University and German Center for Cardiovascular Research, Göttingen, Germany (M.T., W.H.Z.).
authors.forename: Thomas S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Denney
authors.affiliation: From the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, CA (X.Q., J.R., X.Z., T.C., B.N., M.N., J.A., M.A., P.C.Y., P.N., J.C.W.); Auburn University MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AL (T.S.D.); Institute of Pharmacology, Heart Research Center, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University and German Center for Cardiovascular Research, Göttingen, Germany (M.T., W.H.Z.).
authors.forename: Phillip C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: From the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, CA (X.Q., J.R., X.Z., T.C., B.N., M.N., J.A., M.A., P.C.Y., P.N., J.C.W.); Auburn University MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AL (T.S.D.); Institute of Pharmacology, Heart Research Center, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University and German Center for Cardiovascular Research, Göttingen, Germany (M.T., W.H.Z.).
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: From the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, CA (X.Q., J.R., X.Z., T.C., B.N., M.N., J.A., M.A., P.C.Y., P.N., J.C.W.); Auburn University MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AL (T.S.D.); Institute of Pharmacology, Heart Research Center, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University and German Center for Cardiovascular Research, Göttingen, Germany (M.T., W.H.Z.).
authors.forename: Wolfram H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
authors.affiliation: From the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, CA (X.Q., J.R., X.Z., T.C., B.N., M.N., J.A., M.A., P.C.Y., P.N., J.C.W.); Auburn University MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AL (T.S.D.); Institute of Pharmacology, Heart Research Center, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University and German Center for Cardiovascular Research, Göttingen, Germany (M.T., W.H.Z.). joewu@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Joseph C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002460:Cell Line; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004452:Echocardiography; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D064593:Heterografts; D000066449:Human Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000637:transplantation*; D006801:Humans; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine; D008297:Male; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation*; D010641:Phenotype; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011923:Rats, Nude; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012038:Regeneration; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013997:Time Factors; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
keywords: engineered heart muscle; magnetic resonance imaging; myocardial infarction; stem cell; strain imaging; tissue engineering; ultrasound