Recent Advances in Cardiac Patches: Materials, Preparations, and Properties

Abstract

Cardiac patches are biomaterials that can be used for transplantation and repair of damaged myocardium by combining seed cells with the ability to form cardiomyocytes and suitable scaffold materials. On the one hand, they provide temporary support to the infarcted area, and on the other hand, they repair the damaged myocardium by delivering cells or bioactive factors to integrate with the host, which have gradually become a hot research topic in recent years. This paper summarizes the structural properties of natural myocardium and reviews the recent research progress of cardiac patches, including the seed cells and scaffold materials used in patch preparation, as well as the main methods of scaffold preparation and the structure properties of various scaffolds. In addition, a comprehensive analysis of the problems faced in the clinical implementation of cardiac patches is presented. Finally, we look forward to the development of cardiac patches and point out that precisely tunable anisotropic tissue engineering scaffolds close to natural myocardial tissue will become an important direction for future research.

In Vitro Evaluation of a Pile Loop Knitted Scaffold for Myocardial Tissue Engineering Using C2c12 Cells

“…Although the porous nature and mechanical properties of pile loop knit structures made up of PET yarns make them ideal candidates for cardiac tissue engineering their hydrophobic surface does not offer a favorable microenvironment for cell adhesion and proliferation [44]. Thus, scaffolds with hydrophobic nature can preferably be coated with ECM proteins (e.g., fibronectin, collagen type I) to promote cell attachment and migration [45]. The high contact angle can be explained by the low air permeability value of the structure, in other words, few macropores per unit area in the fabric.…”

Mechanical Characterization of 3D-Printed Patterned Membranes for Cardiac Tissue Engineering: An Experimental and Numerical Study

“…The orientation of cardiac muscle fibers (or myofibers) varies across the myocardium wall in a specific manner that confers to the heart and its particular twisting mechanism during the cardiac cycle. Furthermore, it imparts anisotropic mechanical properties to the myocardium, making it stiffer in the circumferential direction than in the longitudinal direction [ 6 ]. Due to the complexity of the myocardium, it has become clear that the knowledge and ability to reproduce its mechanical properties could be the key to the development of more sophisticated devices.…”

“…A major challenge for the fabrication of cardiac patches is then represented by the replication of the structural organization of myofibers and the ability to control the degree of the structural and functional anisotropy [ 7 ]. Among the different tissue engineering technologies, such as soft lithography [ 6 ], electrospinning [ 8 ], or solvent casting [ 9 ], 3D bioprinting has emerged for the fabrication of precise and complex three-dimensional models with high repeatability. Furthermore, it allows for the direct inclusion of cells and therapeutic molecules within biomaterials (forming the so-called “bio-ink” [ 10 ]) for the production of cellularized constructs in a single step [ 11 , 12 ].…”

Multifunctional Silk Fibroin/Carbon Nanofiber Scaffolds for In Vitro Cardiomyogenic Differentiation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and Energy Harvesting from Simulated Cardiac Motion

“…6 To address this challenge, studies focused on the development of scaffold-based cardiac patches, which provide a porous structure for iPSCs to adhere, grow, and differentiate. 7 Silk fibroin (SF) is a biocompatible protein-based material that can be processed to fabricate porous scaffolds. 8 The pore architecture, particularly the pore size, porosity, and pore interconnectivity of the SF scaffolds, could be altered to achieve optimum properties for cardiac tissue regeneration.…”

“…However, using iPSCs in cardiac regeneration is still being researched to provide an optimal environment for their growth and cardiomyogenic differentiation . To address this challenge, studies focused on the development of scaffold-based cardiac patches, which provide a porous structure for iPSCs to adhere, grow, and differentiate …”