Improved Left Ventricular Aneurysm Repair with Cell- and Cytokine-Seeded Collagen Patches

Abstract EN

Background.

Engineered heart tissues (EHTs) present a promising alternative to current materials for surgical ventricular restoration (SVR); however, the clinical application remains limited by inadequate vascularization postimplantation.

Moreover, a suitable and economic animal model for primary screening is another important issue.

Methods.

Recently, we used 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide hydrochloride chemistry (EDC) to initiate a strengthened, cytokine-conjugated collagenous platform with a controlled degradation speed.

In vitro, the biomaterial exhibited an enhanced mechanical strength maintaining a porous ultrastructure, and the constant release of cytokines promoted the proliferation of seeded human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs).

In vivo, with the hMSC-seeded, cytokine-immobilized patch (MSCs + GF patch), we performed modified SVR for rats with left ventricular aneurysm postmyocardial infarction (MI).

Overall, the rats that underwent modified SVR lost less blood and had lower mortality.

After 4 weeks, the rats repaired with this cell-seeded, cytokine-immobilized patch presented preserved cardiac function, beneficial morphology, enhanced cell infiltration, and functional vessel formation compared with the cytokine-free (MSC patch), cell-free (GF patch), or blank controls (EDC patch).

Furthermore, the degradable period of the collagen patch in vivo extended up to 3 months after EDC treatment.

Conclusions.

EDC may substantially modify collagen scaffold and provide a promising and practical biomaterial for SVR.