Injectable Fibrin Scaffold Improves Cell Transplant Survival, Reduces Infarct Expansion, and Induces Neovasculature Formation in Ischemic Myocardium

Abstract

This study indicates that fibrin glue increases cell transplant survival, decreases infarct size, and increases blood flow to ischemic myocardium. Therefore, fibrin glue may have potential as a biomaterial scaffold to improve cellular cardiomyoplasty treat and MIs.

Injectable Acellular Hydrogels for Cardiac Repair

“…Christman et al pioneered the field of acellular injectable biomaterials by exploring the effects of fibrin glue as a bulking agent [18,23,34,48]. Fibrin has natural binding domains for soluble growth factors and cellular integrin receptors, motivating its use for wound healing applications.…”

“…Fibrin has natural binding domains for soluble growth factors and cellular integrin receptors, motivating its use for wound healing applications. Although fibrin is commonly utilized for these biological properties, it can also be used as a mechanical support for the myocardium [18,29,34,48]. Specifically, fibrin forms a crosslinked 3-D hydrogel in the myocardium upon injection with a dual-barreled syringe.…”

“…Specifically, fibrin forms a crosslinked 3-D hydrogel in the myocardium upon injection with a dual-barreled syringe. One barrel contains fibrinogen and aprotinin, a fibrinolysis inhibitor, and the second barrel contains thrombin, factor XIIIa, and CaCl 2 [18,23,29,48]. Following a similar mechanism to that involved in the normal clotting cascade in vivo, when fibrinogen and thrombin are mixed, fibrinogen is converted to fibrin which self-assembles and is crosslinked via the factor XIIIa.…”

“…Echocardiograph and explant data showed that fibrin is capable of maintaining fractional shortening (FS) and preserving infarct scar thickness after the material was resorbed [18]. In later studies, using the same model, Christman et al demonstrated the ability of fibrin to substantially decrease infarct size and increase arteriole density in the infarct area compared to control BSA injections [48]. These results imply that in addition to its bulking effects, fibrin may also elicit a bioactive response that influences LV remodeling.…”

Virtual reality of stem cell transplantation to repair injured myocardium

“…Our goal was to limit the variables associated with growth factor administration or immune rejection [Grinnemo et al, 2004] that may inhibit engraftment and confound interpretation of the results. PBSC or CD34þ cells purified by Isolex column, armed with MLCBi, and infused 24 h after a 17 min transient ligation of the LAD in nude rats led to remarkable numbers of armed and only a few unarmed cells present at 48 h in the infarct zone [Christman et al, 2004;Lum et al, 2004a]. No SC were seen in the non-infarcted areas of the rats.…”