Delivering stem cells to the healthy heart on biological sutures: effects on regional mechanical function.

Current cardiac cell therapies cannot effectively target and retain cells in a specific area of the heart. Cell-seeded biological sutures were previously developed to overcome this limitation, demonstrating targeted delivery with > 60% cell retention. In this study, both cell-seeded and non-seeded fibrin-based biological sutures were implanted into normal functioning rat hearts to determine the effects on mechanical function and fibrotic response.

A novel suture-based method for efficient transplantation of stem cells.

Advances in regenerative medicine have improved the potential of using cellular therapy for treating several diseases. However, the effectiveness of new cellular therapies is largely limited by low cell engraftment and inadequate localization. To improve on these limitations, we developed a novel delivery mechanism using cell-seeded biological sutures.