title: Recreating the Cardiac Microenvironment in Pluripotent Stem Cell Models of Human Physiology and Disease.
abstract: The advent of human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) biology has opened unprecedented opportunities for the use of tissue engineering to generate human cardiac tissue for in vitro study. Engineering cardiac constructs that recapitulate human development and disease requires faithful recreation of the cardiac niche in vitro. Here we discuss recent progress in translating the in vivo cardiac microenvironment into PSC models of the human heart. We review three key physiologic features required to recreate the cardiac niche and facilitate normal cardiac differentiation and maturation: the biochemical, biophysical, and bioelectrical signaling cues. Finally, we discuss key barriers that must be overcome to fulfill the promise of stem cell biology in preclinical applications and ultimately in clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Ayhan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Atmanli
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA. Electronic address: domian@mgh.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Ibrahim John
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Domian
mesh_terms: D060833:Cellular Microenvironment; D004194:Disease; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D010829:Physiological Phenomena; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*
keywords: cardiac myocytes; cardiac niche; cellular microenvironment; disease modeling; pluripotent stem cells; tissue engineering