In vitro and in vivo evaluation of acellular diaphragmatic matrices seeded with muscle precursors cells and coated with VEGF silica gels to repair muscle defect of the diaphragm.

In this work, a bioartificial system consisting of VEGF-loaded porous silica gel and myoblasts cultured on acellular diaphragmatic matrix (ADM) has been implanted to repair a surgically created diaphragmatic defect in Lewis rats. ADMs exerted a strong angiogenic response on chorio-allantoic membrane. Cytotoxicity, VEGF release and matrix erodibility in vitro tests demonstrated that the silica support was nontoxic and that the VEGF bioactivity was maintained after matrix entrapment and it was released within a timeframe that can be modulated by synthesis parameters.