EPC-derived EVs delivered into ischaemic myocardium via an injectable hydrogel enhanced peri-infarct angiogenesis and myocardial haemodynamics in a rat model of MI. The STG greatly increased therapeutic efficiency and efficacy of EV-mediated myocardial preservation.

OBJECTIVES The clinical translation of cell based therapies for ischemic heart disease has been limited due to low cell retention (<1%) within and poor targeting to ischemic myocardium. To address these issues, we developed an injectable shear-thinning hyaluronic acid hydrogel (STG) and endothelial progenitor cell construct (STG-EPC). The STG assembles due to interactions of adamantine and β-cyclodextrin modified hyaluronic acid. It is shear-thinning to permit delivery via a syringe, and self-heals upon injection within the ischemic myocardium. This directed therapy to the ischemic myocardial borderzone enables direct cell delivery to address adverse remodeling after myocardial infarction. We hypothesize that this system will enhance vasculogenesis to improve myocardial stabilization in the context of a clinically translatable therapy. METHODS EPCs (DiLDL+ VEGFR2+ CD34+) were harvested from adult male Wistar Rats, cultured, and then suspended in the STG. In vitro viability was quantified using a live-dead stain of EPCs. STG-EPC constructs were injected at the borderzone of ischemic rat myocardium after acute myocardial infarction (left anterior descending coronary artery ligation). The migration of the eGFP+ EPCs from the construct to ischemic myocardium was analyzed using fluorescent microscopy. Vasculogenesis, myocardial remodeling, and hemodynamic function were analyzed in 4 groups: control (PBS injection), intramyocardial injection of EPCs alone (EPC), injection of the STG alone (STG), and treatment with the gel-EPC construct (STG-EPC). Hemodynamics and ventricular geometry were quantified using echocardiography and Doppler flow analysis. RESULTS EPCs demonstrated viability within the STG. A marked increase in EPC engraftment was observed one-week post-injection within the treated myocardium with gel delivery when compared to EPC injection alone (17.2 ± 0.8 cells/HPF vs. 3.5 cells ± 1.3 cells/HPF, p = 0.0002). A statistically significant increase in vasculogenesis was noted with the STG-EPC construct (15.3 ± 5.8 vessels/HPF) when compared to control (p < 0.0001), EPC (p < 0.0001), and STG (p < 0.0001) groups. Statistically significant improvements in ventricular function, scar fraction, and geometry were also noted after STG-EPC treatment compared to the control. CONCLUSIONS A novel injectable shear-thinning hyaluronic acid hydrogel seeded with EPCs enhanced cell retention and vasculogenesis after delivery to ischemic myocardium. This therapy limited adverse myocardial remodeling while preserving contractility.

While siRNA has tremendous potential for therapeutic applications, advancement is limited by poor delivery systems. Systemically, siRNAs are rapidly degraded, may have off-target silencing, and necessitate high working concentrations. To overcome this, we developed an injectable, guest-host assembled hydrogel between polyethylenimine (PEI) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) for local siRNA delivery. Guest-host modified polymers assembled with siRNAs to form polyplexes that had improved transfection and viability compared to PEI. At higher concentrations, these polymers assembled into shear-thinning hydrogels that rapidly self-healed. With siRNA encapsulation, the assemblies eroded as polyplexes which were active and transfected cells, observed by Cy3-siRNA uptake or GFP silencing in vitro. When injected into rat myocardium, the hydrogels localized polyplex release, observed by uptake of Cy5.5-siRNA and silencing of GFP for 1 week in a GFP-expressing rat. These results illustrate the potential for this system to be applied for therapeutic siRNA delivery, such as in cardiac pathologies.

The field of tissue engineering has advanced the development of increasingly biocompatible materials to mimic the extracellular matrix of vascularized tissue. However, a majority of studies instead rely on a multiday inosculation between engineered vessels and host vasculature rather than the direct connection of engineered microvascular networks with host vasculature. We have previously demonstrated that the rapid casting of three-dimensionally-printed (3D) sacrificial carbohydrate glass is an expeditious and a reliable method of creating scaffolds with 3D microvessel networks. Here, we describe a new surgical technique to directly connect host femoral arteries to patterned microvessel networks. Vessel networks were connected in vivo in a rat femoral artery graft model. We utilized laser Doppler imaging to monitor hind limb ischemia for several hours after implantation and thus measured the vascular patency of implants that were anastomosed to the femoral artery. This study may provide a method to overcome the challenge of rapid oxygen and nutrient delivery to engineered vascularized tissues implanted in vivo.

We present the only single-center series on recipients of heart transplants from HRD CDCs. This potential source of suitable donor organs is shown to lead to excellent survival, without an increased incidence of perioperative or postoperative complications. Furthermore, the risk of transmission of infection from donors in this subgroup seems to be minimal.