Biological and mechanical interplay at the Macro- and Microscales Modulates the Cell-Niche Fate.

Tissue development, regeneration, or de-novo tissue engineering in-vitro, are based on reciprocal cell-niche interactions. Early tissue formation mechanisms, however, remain largely unknown given complex in-vivo multifactoriality, and limited tools to effectively characterize and correlate specific micro-scaled bio-mechanical interplay. We developed a unique model system, based on decellularized porcine cardiac extracellular matrices (pcECMs)-as representative natural soft-tissue biomaterial-to study a spectrum of common cell-niche interactions.

Biohybrid cardiac ECM-based hydrogels improve long term cardiac function post myocardial infarction.

Unlabelled: Injectable scaffolds for cardiac tissue regeneration are a promising therapeutic approach for progressive heart failure following myocardial infarction (MI). Their major advantage lies in their delivery modality that is considered minimally invasive due to their direct injection into the myocardium. Biomaterials comprising such scaffolds should mimic the cardiac tissue in terms of composition, structure, mechanical support, and most importantly, bioactivity.

Natural myocardial ECM patch drives cardiac progenitor based restoration even after scarring.

Objective: To evaluate the regenerative capacity of non-supplemented and bioactive patches made of decellularized porcine cardiac extracellular matrix (pcECM) and characterize the biological key factors involved in possible cardiac function (CF) restoration following acute and 8weeks chronic MI.

Background: pcECM is a key natural biomaterial that can affect cardiac regeneration following myocardial infarction (MI), through mechanisms, which are still not clearly understood.

Methods: Wistar rats underwent MI and received pcECM patch (pcECM-P) treatment in either acute or chronic inflammatory phases.